Hollywood Whore
by Demitria Miriam
Summary: His name is Inuyasha Takahashi, and his band and he were known worldwide for their success as young musicians. However, never once did the hanyou think that he'd ever give up his fame for anything. But then his mother became gravely ill, and in the prime of his career, Inuyasha has to cast his dream aside, go undercover and find a man that might be able to help; his father. SessInu
1. Breaking News!

Title: Hollywood Whore  
><span>Author<span>: Demitria Miriam  
><span>Rating<span>: M  
><span>Pairing<span>: Sesshoumaru x Inuyasha  
><span>Disclaimer<span>: I do not own Inuyasha and make no money off this piece of fiction.  
><span>Warnings<span>: Cross dressing, yaoi, the feels, fanboy (but restrained) Sesshomaru, etc.

Summary: His name is Inuyasha Takahashi, and his band and he were known worldwide for their success as young musicians. However, never once did the hanyou think that he'd ever give up his fame for anything. But then his mother became gravely ill, and in the prime of his career, Inuyasha has to cast his dream aside, go undercover as well as search and seize the one person that could help; his father. Sess x Inu.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Breaking News!<strong>

Musashi Sesshoumaru entered his senior high school classroom in the same fashion he did every morning: with a sigh passing his lips unnoticeably as he bypassed a crowd of girls that loitered about before the day began. He didn't spare them a look as he started toward his seat, thankful when their giggling ceased abruptly as their group parted down the middle, bowing to him like one would for a king as he stepped passed them.

He ignored the usual whispers of "Musashi-senpai looks so beautiful today with his hair pulled back like that at the nape!", allowing himself to vent the woes of his life by rolling his eyes to the ceiling after taking his seat.

Every day was like this- ever since he could remember- and yet, even with that knowledge, it would seem he would never learn his lesson of arriving early to school, even when it meant having to endure their simpering prattle that tore into his skull, setting every fray of his being on edge.

Inhaling a calming breath, Sesshoumaru closed his eyes in silent meditation, a ritual he'd started long ago when he'd discovered that acknowledging others- even within the privacy of his own mind- had the dastardly consequence of annoying the hell out of him the more aware he was of them.

Eyes closed, he let his mind float, his limbs feeling weightless to his sides as his breath was nothing but a rhythmic lullaby in his head.

Only when he heard someone rush in shrieking did his quiet contemplation of nothingness shatter into about as many pieces as he wished to render the squealing female.

"Did you hear! There was a report today in the paper about Hollywood Whore!"

"What!?" the other girls gasped, attention instantly drawn to their friend; every female occupying the otherwise abandoned room zeroed in around their prey.

And while Sesshoumaru's eyes remained shut, his face otherwise impassive to the conversation, a slight twitch of an elfish ear was the only sign that they had his undivided attention as well. A notion they would never be aware of.

"I brought it to school with me," the girl said rummaging around in her book bag before finding and waving it around triumphantly.

"Go ahead, read it, Nona-chan!" the girls urged her, pressing in closer to their target, eager to hear every word that spilled from her lips of their beloved rock band.

"Alright!" The girl flipped to the Celebrity page and began reading:

"_The worldwide phenomenon known as Hollywood Whore finished their European and American tours last month and haven't been heard from since! While newsstands across the globe have been littered with photographs of the band out and about, viewers have yet to find one photo of the lead singer, Takahashi Inuyasha. Sources say the guitarist will be traveling abroad for the duration of the next year._

"_Whether this is due to studies or for pleasure we've yet to confirm! A rep for the teen singer was quoted earlier today saying, 'He'll be focusing more on his life for the remainder of the year. But don't worry! The band is working on their next hit album via phone conferences and traveling to each other to collaborate their ideas!'_

"_It was also implied- but not confirmed- that the band has yet to decide whether they want to expand their touring from Asia and Australia to the shores of Japan!_

"_While Hollywood Whore- nor any representative of theirs- has yet to verify this, it's been a popular rumor that the band is on a 'break' since the apparent breakup between lead singer, Takahashi Inuyasha and Utami Kikyou of the band Dead Corpse Repeat._

"_However, while this is unconfirmed information, it should also be noted that Utami Kikyou has also been MIA for the past couple of months as well. We have been unable to contact anyone concerning the DCR singer and any possibility of another record from them as well-"_

"No way!" someone yelled out, voice trembling between horror, excitement and disbelief.

_What?_ Sesshoumaru thought, his eyes opening slowly as his brow creased significantly while his mind processed all the information the girl had just read aloud.

"Kikyou-sama and Inuyasha-sama broke up? When! This means I have a shot!" one of the girls cried out, bouncing in place.

_WHAT?_ the demon's brow twitched, the only telltale sign he was still reeling from the newspaper article. His favorite band- a well-guarded secret of his- was taking a vacation for an entire year? And the lead singer was...

His heart seemed to hiccup in his chest as the emotions he barely ever expressed, or even wanted to feel- except within the privacy of his own mind- began boiling just beneath his skin, readying to burst out in every which direction at any second.

What could possibly be so important that Hollywood Whore only now informed everyone they were taking leave for such an extended amount of time? And with no prior warning to their general audience? Even saying "We'll be taking a break for a while to recoup" was something; they hadn't said a word since their initial falling-off-the-face-of-the-earth act about a month ago, and now this?

Sesshoumaru bit his lip as it turned down in frustration, thankful that his back was to the gossiping girls.

"I wonder why Kikyou-sama and Inuyasha-sama broke up? They were going out for a year... Something big must have happened," one girl said slowly, tapping a finger against her mouth.

"Maybe he got her pregnant and decided to leave her?" another provided absently.

Sesshoumaru's left eye spasmed as the rest of the girls sucked in a sharp breath of incredulity.

"Don't say things like that! Inuyasha-sama would never do that! There's no way he'd get her pregnant! She probably cheated on him!"

"Yeah!" one of the girls agreed, feeding off her friend's declaration. "He'd be more likely to leave her if she got pregnant by another guy!"

"No, he'd be the better man and stay with her if he loved her so much, even if it was someone else's child!" another argued.

"What if it's not his child but he thinks it is?"

Deadly silence enshrouded the room, the girls absorbing everything that had been said as, unbeknownst to them, Sesshoumaru's brow twitched once more.

"I doubt that's the case, but if you're done talking about that I wanted to ask if any of you saw the message they posted on their blog last night!"

"What!"

"What'd it say?"

"They say not to worry, and that they'll let people know what's going on with them every so often, but it'll probably only be Roku-sama and Gouja-sama spamming the fans with messages."

"What about my lovely Inuyasha-kun?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed, glaring at the chalk board in the front of the classroom as he bit back the retort _Don't say his name like that_, knuckles turning white under his desk. The teen rock star was brilliant at what he did; he deserved the proper honorific, not some prepubescent girl's sickening endearment.

"They said he will most likely be too busy doing what he's doing to post at all, but if they got any messages passed along form him that they'd post them."

"Ahhh, no! I have to hear from him! He's my-"

A harsh slap of books onto a desk sounded from the back of the room, startling everyone enough to make them jump and look over. The girls glared daggers, nearly hissing as they recognized the new occupant.

The female that had rudely interrupted the groups gossiping marathon glared right back at them through dark bangs. "Will you all stop going on about them? It's annoying as hell."

And despite his own agitation, Sesshoumaru happened to agree with her- Aiko Inuzumi, he thought her name was- quite a bit. Hearing them nearly pant over a band like Hollywood Whore was nauseating to listen to. They didn't even do it for the music as much as whatever perverse fantasies they thought themselves to be in with whatever band member they found the most aesthetically pleasing.

"You've got some nerve eavesdropping, Aiko Inuzumi!" one girl yelled out.

"I didn't need to eavesdrop on probably the dumbest conversation I've ever heard. This is a public school if you didn't know," Aiko Inuzumi snapped back. "Besides, it's getting on my nerves how any of you think you stand a chance in hell with any of them."

"Oh, let me guess, you think _you_ have a better chance with one of them, do you, half-breed?" the ring leader snapped.

Inuzumi snorted. "Keh. It should be about the music, not how much you want to get into pants that would never in a million years let you in them, even if you are easy."

Eyes huge with fury, the small crowd of girls started forward threateningly. "WHY YOU-!"

The sound of the school bell rang, triggering the girls' fight or flight mode. They settled for glaring as the rest of the class piled into the room, along with the teacher.

Sesshoumaru could only sigh, hiding any form of interest in the previous topic the girls had been fighting over at bay. After all, it wouldn't do to have anyone at school know of his darkest and most closely guarded secret...

That he, class president and only son and heir of Musashi Inutaishou and Musashi Izanami, was unreservedly obsessed with the American male rock star known as Takahashi Inuyasha-sama.

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><p><em>Chapter end.<em>


	2. Incognito

**Chapter 2: Incognito**

He put the necklace on and looked in the mirror, sighing.

What he saw looking back at him was an average looking girl with dark black hair and brown eyes staring at him with a critical, pinched expression.

He took the necklace off, watching as his image in the mirror shifted to his real state of being; black hair that was tied up in a ponytail turned silver-white as brown eyes lit up with burnished gold. His skin melted from fair sand to tanned peach, his inuhanyou ears growing in size from the more petite, black ears he sported when under his fairer guise of his female alter ego.

Sighing once again he put the necklace back on- the cursed, blessed necklace that kept his secret from everyone else. A secret only a few people knew including his band mates, the maker of the necklace, his ex-girlfriend and her principle cousin doing him one huge ass, very _illegal_ favor.

And that secret was that he wasn't really a female, but an American male rock star by the name of Inuyasha Takahashi. His situation was crazy through and through, but he had a need to hide his identity in a country that wouldn't otherwise allow him in without hassling him left and right. Something which he couldn't have when everything he held dear was at stake with this little stunt of his.

Inuyasha reasserted himself at that thought and continued looking in the mirror at his now female visage.

"Ohayo gozaimasu, I'm Aiko Inuzumi," he said in his slightly higher, though by no means completely feminine, voice. He shuddered at his image before rolling his eyes and walking out of his bathroom moodily.

Yeah, that almost sounded like a real girl...

"Wishful thinking... Not," he grumbled to himself sarcastically as he grabbed his satchel and tore out of his apartment. Regardless that he usually regretted arriving to school early almost _always_ due to a certain group of bitches that seemed to waste their time in homeroom gossiping about this and that, he still liked to be places in a timely manner.

_My own private hell_, he thought as he turned onto the street outside his temporary residence, starting his daily trek of the ten or so blocks to school, his form slumped despite the disapproving glares he got from passersby.

_Yeah, go fuck yourself, lady. You'd feel the same if you were a guy wearing this ugly blue uniform. At least the asshole's at this school allow a range of skirt lengths like the long one I'm wearing… can't really hide my dude legs and dude bits and lack of female upper body bits if they forced me to wear those short skirts and or the less baggy tops... _

Inuyasha sighed heavily before shaking his head abruptly and standing up straighter, walking with more grace than he would typically.

_I'm Inuzumi Ai- Err, _Aiko Inuzumi_- when looking like this, not Takahashi Inuyasha_, he thought to himself with refined determination to get into the correct mindset before he arrived at school. His step, however, faltered with his next thought. _God, how I'm able to pull this off is still a fucking mystery to me... Well I know _how_, just... I can't believe I'm pulling this off..._

It was the craziest idea he'd ever had in his life to come to fucking Edopolis, Japan of all places, dress like, and actually pretend to be, a girl, use a pseudo name and then, to add icing on the cake, enter a senior high school a few blocks away from the apartment he'd moved into. And all in one day, too. But he'd done it because he'd had to...

He'd been driven to it out of sheer desperation for the sake of his mother.

His mother who was on her quite possibly on her deathbed due to cancer.

He'd been told by the doctors that the cancer was spreading faster than they'd anticipated and that she probably only had around a year left to live at best. He'd been floored when they'd told him, having originally been under the impression that the chemo treatments were going well. His mother had tried to calm him down, and he'd been able to control himself well enough to where he wouldn't stress her out unnecessarily, but it hadn't been easy. Even now... it was still so fresh in his mind...

But then she'd said she wanted to come to back to Japan, the place where she'd been raised before her parents had moved to the States when she was only a few years old...

Reading between the lines, Inuyasha had known she had basically wanted to go "home" to die.

Inuyasha's fists and jaw clenched at the memory of when she'd told him.

She hadn't said it like that to him, of course, but, essentially, that's what it came down to. And he hated thinking of it. She'd even gone as far as to tell him to continue to stay in the States for a while, that she'd be fucking _**fine**_ while he worked in L.A. for a few more months.

And all he could think while she said it was: _Like fucking hell I will_.

And he'd followed her here. Without her knowing. Now she resided up in Hokkaido with his aunt and uncle, her chemo treatment continuing despite the fact her life would end within the span of a short year.

And it _tore_ at him... He'd been unable to really work since the two months ago when he'd heard the news... then to have her tell him she was going to Japan of all fucking places?

Inuyasha sucked in a breath, trying to contain the emotions that would have any grown man feeling the sting of tears in his eyes, if not bawling out right and not giving two shits of who saw.

While she was still in the dark about his being here, he still called her, pretended to be working on things he wasn't working on to set her mind at ease for a while longer... until he found what he'd come here for...

Everything rode on this one thing. And it just had to work out... it absolutely _had_ to.

He thanked his lucky stars that everything so far had gone according to plan... he was just that much closer to his ultimate goal. Now all he needed was some more luck and a bit more time...

Of course, none of this would have been possible if his ex-girlfriend, Kikyou Utami, hadn't helped him out. While they'd broken up about three months ago (something it seemed even the media didn't know about until recently surprisingly), it wasn't a harsh split. It was merely that they'd found they weren't working well as a couple; while they still worked together _professionally_ from time to time, a romantic relationship itself was out of the question now. And by some grace, they still remained good friends to this day. So much so that she'd actually been able to convince her cousin, Takemaru Setsuna, the principle of the senior high school he was attending here in Japan now, to go along with his little plan made of complete and utter _**illegality**_.

Inuyasha wasn't sure HOW she'd done that exactly but the man, so far, had proven to keep not only his secret but had actually helped him out as well when it was necessary.

And for that the hanyou was sincerely grateful, he thought, smiling to himself...

...before that smile fell off all together. Because then he remembered he was thankful to a rather pervy, middle-aged cousin of his ex's that- since he started his double life in Japan- always wanted to talk to him "privately" each morning when he was dressed like a girl... The leer the man held during each, though mercifully short, meeting gave him the heebie-jeebies every damn time.

Inuyasha could feel the vein in his forehead increase in size.

Damn it, but it all fell back on this stupid "alter ego" and dressing up like a fuckin' woman!

He still couldn't believe his so-called "friends" allowed him to come up with such a cockamamie- though rather brilliant in retrospect- plan of action. Why dress like a girl? Well... who the hell would ever suspect Inuyasha Takahashi in the guise of a female? Seriously? Who? Other than Kikyou's pervy cousin it would seem...

A shiver ran down his spine.

But still, the hanyou knew when the band went quiet for more than a week their fans would group together all over the world and do whatever it took to figure out what had happened to them. And here in Japan? Well, as far as he could discern, the fans here were rather... _dedicated_ in the "we'll hunt you down until you tell us what's going on, and even then we'll have EYES EVERYWHERE" sense. He'd also stick out like a sore thumb in Japan, what with his light tresses and defining features.

And thus, somehow, someway, the hanyou had gotten the rather audacious idea to be "incognito"...

"Like some fucking _spy?_ Jesus, you watch too many damn action movies, inukoro!" Kouga Mikuni had snapped at him after he'd explained his grand scheme to his closest friends.

While the ookami had basically hassled him about it for the next few days, Kouga was the one in the end that had taken matters into his own hands and- possibly for future blackmail use, now that the hanyou thought about it- decided to contact Kikyou and plan out the next year of Inuyasha's life without him.

The hanyou also had the sneaking suspicion that while there were no "hard feelings" between Kikyou and him, she would never pass up a chance to have one at him; she was pretty much as bad as Kouga when it came to playing jokes and the like on him.

And then suddenly Inuyasha was on his way to Japan, male and female clothes stored in the pink suitcase his other friend, Miroku Houshi, had been... _kind enough_ to get him as a departing gift. The second he'd seen the thing he'd made a mental note to cut off the hentai's balls next time they met up.

Inuyasha sighed as he remembered how fucking relieved he'd been that Kouga and Miroku hadn't insisted they see him off at the airport.

And now that he thought about it... no one he knew that knew it was him, other than the principle of Edopolis Metro University senior high school, had seen him like this...

His eye twitched.

God, if anyone other than Takemaru Setsuna knew who he really was and then saw him dressed like this...

Another horrible wave of shivers zinged up and down his spine then at the rather abrupt image of his band mates seeing him in a school uniform with his hair tied back in red ribbons...

"Yeah, I'm not sure how I'd handle it if those assholes ever saw me like this," he grieved to himself, thinking of whether they would go to the hospital due to the holy hell Inuyasha would leash upon their faces, or if they'd go simply from the laughter they were sure to die from... He considered it for a while before concluding they'd go to the E.R. on both accounts. Because he knew they'd laugh and he knew he'd beat the ever living shit out of them when they did.

_Especially that bastard Kouga_, Inuyasha growled mentally.

Kouga was definitely the one he'd kill the MOST. He was the reason this whole thing kicked into gear after Inuyasha had initially thought of it (at the time he'd just been spouting out desperate ideas). And then the shitty wolf had to go and call Kikyou... After he'd relented to going along with the plan, she'd asked him what name he'd want to use while in Japan... and at the time, he hadn't been able to give one.

Of course, Kouga, being the helpful, shameless bastard that he was, had fixed that effortlessly by going behind his back and telling his ex the name "Inuzumi Aiko" would be "fine". It wasn't until Inuyasha had arrived in Japan that he'd found out what devastatingly embarrassing shit the asshole had done.

He'd be the first to admit that the first name, Inuzumi, had been fine; he could deal with that. But the surname? Aiko? Aiko meaning "lovechild" in the Japanese tongue*? Gah!

Though, when he thought about it, "Aiko" had probably been chosen by the stupid ookami since it had a kind of... "history" for them, what with being a nickname of sorts.

Aiko... He'd heard it first from random strangers that didn't realize he could hear their whispers, and then it had somehow eventually morphed into a "petname" given to him by Kouga and Miroku later...

Inuyasha made a surprised sound through his nose at the memory he'd nearly forgotten.

He'd first heard the term "lovechild" back when Miroku, Kouga, and he had been nearly inseparable; they'd been about seven, six and seven and a half years old, respectively. Back then they didn't know what the word had meant; they'd only ever heard the old ladies at the hair salon their mother's hung out at say it whenever his friends and him would walk by. Of course, the women didn't realize the inu and ookami chibis could hear the words they whispered behind their hands. Words such as: "That Takahashi boy... It's that Izayoi's lovechild..."

But that had just been the first time they had first heard the word "lovechild", a term that didn't make much sense to them then and had, after a time, even become something of a joke between the three best friends eventually turned band mates.

The joke, of course, coming in the form of a comment Inuyasha's mother made when they had just been signed to their record label.

It had happened innocently enough; Inuyasha had done something stupid, Kouga had mocked him, Miroku had teased and Inuyasha had then, again, done something stupid once more.

And then she'd said it; how Inuyasha seemed to have Miroku's charm and Kouga's biting (though she'd said "mannerless") tongue. And as Izayoi had wished them luck on recording their first song, Miroku and Kouga had shared a moment... a moment which had the hanyou eyeing them both very cautiously before slowly pulling away from them as they turned a keen and rather evil gaze at him...

And then promptly pronounced him their lovechild, were they to ever have one... or even be able to have one in the first place...

Such notions of whether it was "possible" or "impossible" never really mattering much to them.

And whether they had a lovechild... or were even in a relationship (which they weren't) were both very low on their lists of "zero fuck's given".

_Aiko Inuzumi..._ Inuyasha said in his head before snorting to himself. Kouga really did have an idiot's sense of humor. The name just sounded... _way _too chipper to him, and way too... girly...

_Hummhummmhumhumhummmm..._

The half-demon blinked in confusion as the "chipper sound" was enunciated with a merry hum that seemed to be coming somewhere from within his bag, escalating in his ears with each passing second.

It took him a moment or two to figure out it was his PHONE humming some pop song that all the girls were currently raving about. His ears flattened against his skull as an embarrassed blush passed over his cheeks.

Oh, the things he succumbed to, to pull this incognito bullshit off.

He gritted his teeth as he rummaged through his bag for it, ignoring the glares he received from people nearby at the unnecessarily loud music. Upon finding it he flipped it open, saw the Caller ID and glared at the phone as if it had wronged him somehow before pushing the Talk button with a hard poke of his index finger.

"WHAT?!" came Inuyasha's irritated greeting.

Silence.

Then- "You're half-Japanese and you're answering a phone like that? What the hell, muttface?! Shouldn't you say something more Japanese-like? Like... 'munchie munchie' or something?" came Kouga Mikuni's irritating voice.

Inuyasha smacked himself in the head before quickly remembering where he was and diverting his path from school into a secluded alley. He bit his lip hard to remind himself _not_ to yell out all types of obscenities that any of the people walking past the area could hear.

"It's fucking 'moshi moshi', dipshit. And technically speaking, I'm _all_ Japanese; Mom's family moved to the States when she was a baby," he hissed into the receiver.

"Right," came the critical, somewhat disbelieving response. The half-demon acted way too crass to be even _part_ Japanese in Kouga's mind, what with his shitty attitude and crude vocabulary.

"What the hell are you doing calling me anyway? Isn't it like... hell, 3pm where you are? Shouldn't you be on a cruise or something?"

"Yeah... about that..." Kouga trailed off uncertainly, causing Inuyasha to go stiff, warning signals going off in his head already.

"Hi, Inuyasha!" another familiar voice chirped in the background on the other line. Just as Inuyasha was about to say "Hey" back to his other band mate, he was quickly cut off by Kouga's follow up of "Get the fuck away, I'm gonna talk to him-" which was refuted by "Come on! I haven't even gotten to speak to him properly in about a month!"

"Uh, Kouga?" Inuyasha mumbled into the receiver.

"Inuyasha!" the second voice said from further away in the background now. "Don't hang up with him until I get to talk to-"

A sudden smack and then dead silence was Inuyasha's answer to how Kouga had dealt with Miroku's persistence. Then-

"So. How're things down under, so to speak."

"I'm in fucking Japan, asshole, not Australia."

"Same thing; it's on the other side of the fucking world, you moron. All that shit on that side of the planet is the _same!_"

"That's a narrow-minded opinion, even for you, shitty wolf! I'm fucking thousands of kilometers away from Kangarooville, so-"

Kouga guffawed. "_I'm _narrow-minded? Listen to yourself once in a goddamn while, you half-breed bigot! And for your information, you've got about 6,993km between you and 'Kangarooville'. Idiot."

"Yeah, you've just wasted about five minutes of my life this morning, Kouga-"

"It's morning?"

"Yeah, it's about 7am right now-"

"Holy shit!" Kouga cried out, sounding like he was scrambling around with sheets or something. The sheet scrambling –which sounded a little like curtains being thrown open but he wasn't quite sure- ceased the next moment as Inuyasha heard a high pitched yell of agony.

_What the hell... _Inuyasha thought, ears pulled back in agitation.

"Uh... Did I... wake you up?"

"No," Inuyasha sighed, irritated as he moved out of the alleyway and toward his school a few blocks away. "I'm on my way to school. Speaking of which, I need to be early today so if you don't mind, I'm gonna kindly ask you to fuck off and hang up already."

"Can't believe you're going to a public school for godsake," Kouga grumbled, sounding like he just woke up himself.

_What a lazy bastard_, the hanyou thought, rolling his eyes. _It's gotta be about three in the afternoon there and he's still sleeping? And if that's the case, what the hell is Miroku even doing there?_

"Yeah, yeah, I don't wanna hear it. Anyway, talk to you later, asswipe."

"Alright. Oh, by the way, weinedoissocomethotometimton it. See ya!"

The phone call ended abruptly.

About ten seconds later the jumbled mass of words the ookami spewed over the phone finally melded together in Inuyasha's head: "We're in Edopolis, so come by the hotel sometime tonight", which the hanyou then promptly squawked out for all to hear, "_**WHAT!**_"

Another moment or two and he realized people on the street were staring at him with disapproving looks on their faces, some even hushing their crying children and moving along past the weirdo yelling at thin air.

He sighed, scowling to himself as he flipped his phone shut, wishing very much that it was Kouga's fucking _neck_ instead.

"Phones aren't allowed in school," came a sudden voice from behind him causing the half-demon to freeze in place.

_Shit, what the hell kind of luck keeps having us bump into each other like this all the damn time?_ Inuyasha demanded to whatever deity would listen before pressing his lips together before they could get him in trouble.

He glanced down quickly to confirm that, yes, he _was_ in a female's school uniform, and he was still very much playing the role of new, loner student girl as far as "her" classmate behind "her" was concerned.

"A-ah... uh," Inuyasha struggled to relax his vocal chords into a lighter tone; one that wasn't quite feminine nor masculine, but one he could easily maintain without his voice being recognizable. "Sesshoumaru-" he said as the tall male began passing him without a second look.

That is until the hanyou had said his name.

The demon Inuyasha had come to know as the class president, Sesshoumaru Musashi, was somewhat of a mystery to him so far, not that he'd really taken the time to get to know the rather quiet demon. Beyond that, all he knew about the other was he liked to be alone, spent the majority of his time in either the library doing homework or at their school's dojo where he practiced kendo (which the guy- admittedly- had some monster ability in)... but that was pretty much all Inuyasha really knew of the usually aloof student...

"Excuse me, half-breed?" came the critical directory, gold eyes flashing back at him.

Oh, and also that he was a world-class _**asshole**_.

Inuyasha grit his teeth, holding back every crude word he could mutter to that reply, never mind how many punches he could get in before the demon even realized he'd moved.

"Ikokujin*, you will refer to your upperclassmen as _senpai_. Never by my given name, and you will greet me in the proper fashion anytime we happen to have the unfortunate chance of meeting," came the demon's final reprieve of Inuya- _Inuzumi's_ continuous fuck ups of Japanese etiquette.

The bastard even had the audacity to stand in all his freakishly tall glory over the half-demon, awaiting the "proper" greeting.

"_Ohayo... gozaimasu... Musashi-senpai*_," Inuyasha said through clenched teeth, fists tightening at his sides.

The demon smirked at him before turning around sharply and making his way over to his friends hanging out across the street from the school.

"Fucking asshole," Inuyasha muttered when he knew the other was out of earshot, ears still pulled back in irritation. Walking stiffly to where the youkai had gone- but to a more secluded area- he sat down and took out a book on English Studies (the one course he was actually excelling at, hands down).

The vendor across the street was the most popular hang out before and after school, and especially during lunch time. The students liked to loiter around here due to the business playing a local music station over their radio to not only encourage the impressionable youth to purchase something but also to keep them out of trouble and listening to something they wouldn't be able to for the rest of the school day.

"_And now a new announcement for all you Hollywood Whore fans here in Edopolis!"_

A surprised hush took over the entire area as everyone quieted down instantly, their breaths held in anticipation at this unexpected announcement. Inuyasha looked around, intrigued by the response and hushful respect that one sentenced garnered.

"_The band, Hollywood Whore, has released a new single this morning! The self-titled song, Hollywood Whore, sung lead this time by the bands charismatic Mikuni Gouja-"_

Inuyasha snorted, rolling his eyes. _Ugh, Kouga's still letting the media use that nickname for him? Stupid. Heh, least they finally released that song we finished months ago. 'bout fucking time, _he thought dryly.

"_We'll be playing the new single for you shortly. Before then, however, we'd also like to make the announcement that tomorrow, Saturday the 14th, Gouja and Roku will be here in Edopolis at the Sakura Hotel! They've granted us an exclusive audience with them and plan to broadcast a portion of the interview we'll be doing."_

The girls all around the area began cheering exuberantly, some looking on the verge of passing out. Inuyasha's eyes quickly scanned the vicinity again behind black fringe, taking note that even Sesshoumaru's eyes were turned in the direction of the radio, listening intently as his friends around him jabbered on about this and that.

"_They've also announced they will allow a limited public viewing of this exchange!"_ the DJ droned out as the new release began to pump through the speakers. _"And without further ado, the new single, Hollywood Whore, by the band themselves!"_

The song began pumping out of the speakers, the teenagers in the surrounding area listening and laughing excitedly as they bobbed to the sound. Inuyasha absently thought the asshole demon he'd run into earlier seemed to like the song if the very slight movement of his foot to the beat was anything to go by.

The hanyou sighed, tuning everything around him out then, concentrating instead on what Kouga had said over the phone only minutes before.

"_We're in Edopolis, so come by the hotel sometime tonight," _the ookami had said. Inuyasha's brow furrowed in annoyance.

Despite having the worst possible timing as they usually did whenever his private affairs seemed to be in order, he still knew he'd go see Kouga and Miroku tonight regardless. He had two priorities now to accomplish, and those were to one, find out why the hell they'd even come all the way to Japan from L.A. and two, to tear them both new assholes for even coming here in the first place without telling him. If he were lucky he'd be able to make a hopefully stealthy escape from the hotel before any paparazzi noticed him after.

He absolutely would not let his friends blow his cover here.

Because the entire reason he moved here in secret and was under a pseudo name and dressed like a fucking girl was so he could locate his birthfather in a timely manner.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end.<em>

If any of the notes I make at the bottom or in the fic are incorrect, please let me know and I'll change them accordingly.

**Aiko:** So I'm… butchering the beautiful, very complicated Japanese language and making Aiko reflect the term "lovechild". From what a friend of mine says, a lot of female names end in "-ko" and "ai" is the noun "love" by itself. So... yeah. /shot

**Ikokujin****:** _Ikoku_ meaning 'foreign/different country', _jin_ meaning 'person'. I'm not entirely sure how accurate this is but from the research I did it was the one I most commonly found to refer to someone who was a foreigner in Japan.

**Surname-senpai**: Usually in Japan people refer to others by their surnames and add the suffix –san at the least (depending on position/age, etc). In Inuyasha's- or rather "Inuzumi's" case, Sesshoumaru is "her" senpai as he's a grade ahead of her despite being the same age as him. Therefore it is polite and expected of her to refer to him as senpai or Musashi-senpai. Unless invited to do so, the Japanese don't refer to/call others by first names. Additionally, the term _kohai_refers to a junior but isn't typically used as an honorific.

**Hollywood Whore:** the title of this fic and the imaginary band was totally inspired by Papa Roach's song "Hollywood Whore". Go find it on youtube if you don't know it.


	3. Half Breed

**Chapter 3: Half-Breed**

The radio announcement this morning- which was later confirmed that afternoon by the band on their website- had caused something of a stir among the students. It seemed like emotions were running high between anxiousness and injustice (for 99% of the student population knew their parents would never allow them to skip school to go to such a once-in-a-lifetime event, and even if they _did_ skip school without permission they'd be KILLED when their parents did find out...).

Of course, Sesshoumaru would be in that 1% of the population that _would_ be going despite the fact that he'd be skipping school to do so. While his parents would hate that he was going to be missing a full day of academics, all he really needed to do to smooth that over was tell them he'd be going on a date with a girl from one of the cram schools nearby, as it was "her only day off". They'd be too excited about him dating to question, or even care, about one missed day of school.

Dating... he sighed. That was the whole crux of his issues recently, wasn't it?

Since he'd become a senior and was in his final year of senior high school, his mother and father had been a lot more adamant about him not only getting good grades so he could get into the best university there was, but they were also hassling him about finding a "good woman" to settle down with.

The optimal plan they had for him was to find a suitable female from a good family in the next year or so, become engaged before university and then marry once done with his schooling. They had more planned in the way of children and grandchildren, and other baby making ideals, but he was really quite unwilling to even _think_ of that at the moment, if ever again.

It really was a cold day in hell when he didn't hear the question "Any girls catch your eye today?" from his father whenever he returned home from school. His answer was always vague enough to keep his father somewhat complacent thankfully. After all, it wasn't like he could really say something so out of character like "I'm not really into any girls", or "dudes actually do it for me". Not only would he give his father a heart attack for saying the American slang "dudes" but he was pretty sure the old man would straight up croak if he knew his one and only son had a rather vicious tendency toward the male sex... That was inaccurate actually. He was only interested in one male's sex...

Aside from that, however, there weren't any females that actually had caught his eye at this school, or anywhere else for that matter. While he may have had a solid preference for one particular person that happened to be a guy, he also knew he would, at some unfortunate point in his life, be marrying a woman. As the sole heir to the Musashi line he was obligated to carry the name on with children after all.

Yet... when he thought about it... Spending his whole life with a woman... all he could do was shudder at the mere thought.

Women. They were selfish, simpering beings that flirted because they thought it was sexy. They not only had a tendency to hold grudges but they also played games with other's emotions and minds, never said what was really on their minds- only what they thought you wanted to hear- and always acted like they couldn't do anything for themselves-

"IF YOU TOUCH MY ASS AGAIN, BASTARD, I'LL FUCK UP YOUR FACE!"

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. Every single one of them. Except THAT female.

She was an entirely _different_ story. Always loud, brash, and rather violent. Especially toward the males of the school. She'd transferred here from somewhere he didn't care to remember about a month ago. But he'd bet that wherever it was she had come from they were glad to be rid of her. Because apparently, along with her foul mouth and lack of proper etiquette, she had also brought the chaos she'd surely caused at her own school to _their_school now; it was never quiet anymore.

"HEY YOU-!"

Ever.

Though he supposed her only redeeming quality was that she kept mostly to herself unless unnecessarily provoked. Something most of the male population seemed to either be unaware of or simply didn't care about because they'd always find some way to get her blushing a violent shade of red before she went violent on their faces.

Sort of like a bunch of males- and a good portion of females it looked like- were doing now.

_Great,_ Sesshoumaru thought. Now the courtyard would roar to unnecessary sound levels and ruin his bento. Standing up from where he had thought he was going to enjoy his lunch he gathered his things and went to make his way passed the crowd that had the half-demon girl cornered.

"Just let me by! I have every right to enjoy my lunch just like the rest of you idiots!" Aiko Inuzumi yelled out, holding onto her satchel defensively.

The crowd laughed; the power of their numbers outweighing their brain capacity to act like decent beings.

As Sesshoumaru walked by his gaze flickered briefly over toward the crowd, his eyes unintentionally catching those of Aiko Inuzumi's. She blinked over at him strangely before he reverted his sight back to its original path in front of him.

"Why should we let you have any peace when all you do is cause us unnecessary trouble, half-breed!" a girl accused from somewhere in the crowd.

"Yeah!" another student agreed.

"Stupid half-breeds should learn their place!" a boy declared.

"You know what, fuck you all! Would you treat Inuya- Takahashi Inuyasha...-san like this? Huh! He's a 'stupid half-breed', too, ya know!" Inuzumi yelled out again.

Silence.

The statement had a strange, rippling effect on the entire crowd for a brief moment before they perked back up, angrier than they already had been, the hanyou's words seeming to only incense the crowd than get them to actually think of how hypocritical they were being.

It did, however, cause one demon that was passing the crowd to freeze up and stop his route completely as he absorbed what the girl had just said.

She was right... Takahashi Inuyasha-sama was indeed a hanyou, half-human and half-youkai. In essence there wasn't much difference between youkai and human save for the fact that those of demon blood tended to live a bit longer than ningen did. Sure, some youkai looked strange, what with markings of some kind, or pointed ears, but that was the equivalent of a human with different colored hair or an oddly shaped nose...

But those things... Sesshoumaru blinked. Those were the only real differences between the two species...

His throat thickened with anger and remorse, a shudder going through him at the thought of what it would feel like if he ever called Takahashi Inuyasha-sama "a filthy half-breed"... and he didn't like the thought nor the feeling that accompanied it. Not at all.

Admittedly, he'd called the girl much worse at times, barely even acknowledging her... He'd even thought she was inferior due to her mixed heritage, yet...

Sesshoumaru cursed his own foolishness. He was the class president! He shouldn't have tolerated this kind of behavior from the rest of the school population... let alone himself.

Sesshoumaru's golden eyes narrowed as his lip curled in indignation and he turned around swiftly as one of the more idiotic males grabbed the half-demon girl's arm harshly, yanking her to the side. He was across the yard behind them in a moment.

"You'll refrain from putting your hands on someone without permission, Takehiro-san," Sesshoumaru said with quiet severity.

Everyone froze and slowly looked over at him fearfully not having expected his interference at all.

"Leave this matter alone and get out of my sight," he ordered next.

They quickly dispersed from the area, wondering what exactly had just happened.

The half-demon herself was wondering the same thing it seemed before muttering out, "Uh, t-thanks... I-"

"Your gratitude is unneeded, ha-," the demon paused, trying his best to not choke on the words he was swallowing down. Instead of apologizing or finishing what he was going to say he merely turned and began walking away to his original destination wondering why the girl had him tongue tied.

While he still didn't really care for the girl... he wouldn't be able to tolerate the other students bullying her like that again. If not because it was his job as class president to keep order among the students then because it only made him a hypocrite for bestowing one hanyou with respect while judging and ostracizing another.

And he didn't really want to live with that knowledge anymore.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end.<em>

Author's Note: Thanks to Kaytla for the epic quote I used in this chapter ("IF YOU TOUCH MY ASS AGAIN, BASTARD, I'LL FUCK UP YOUR FACE.") 3 You truly inspire Inuyasha's mouth in my head. Thanks to all that have read and reviewed!


	4. Dude Looks like a Lady

**Chapter 4: Dude looks like a lady**

_So. Fucking. Boring! _the hanyou huffed to himself as he left school for the day, throwing his bag over his shoulder casually as he looked up at the sky in hopes of somehow relieving himself of how crazy this school was making him.

It seemed that ever since the climax that was lunchtime had occurred, the rest of the day was to be disturbingly uneventful. It didn't help matters either when he finally noticed people shying away from him at all costs, something he definitely wasn't used to at all with this crowd of idiots; it was like he'd entered the Twilight Zone or something.

And the whole thing somehow annoyed him to no end, which in and of itself annoyed him even further that he was annoyed by their lack of attention in the first place! Almost to the point where he actually thought he MISSED all the crap his classmates usually put him through. Inuyasha sighed.

He couldn't help but think that the morons that usually bothered him until the school day came to an end were explicitly avoiding him due to a certain class president's outburst in the quad during lunch.

And that thought alone brought a whole slew of new questions and headaches in its wake.

What the hell had the demon been thinking to just go off on everyone like that? To scold them and scare them away for calling him a half-breed? Hell, Sesshoumaru had called him that numerous times in the last month he'd been at this school and yet... when everyone else did, he flips? What the hell?

His step turned a bit lazier as he realized he was a fair distance away from school now. Relaxing his limbs into his usual carefree saunter, he turned his thoughts to tonight and wondered just how exactly he was going to get into the hotel Kouga and Miroku were staying at. It would be tricky, especially when he _knew_ the paparazzi would be camped out front... Hmm.

Maybe if he-

_Hummhummmhumhumhummmm_...

Inuyasha's ears pulled back as he stopped walking, freezing as a blush spread across his cheeks at the cheery, bouncy song signaling his phone was ringing.

He scrounged around in his bag for the blasted pink abomination* and flipped it open after seeing "Pervert" on the Caller ID.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT!" he hissed harshly into the receiver, his pace now accelerating; he could see his apartment building now!

"Whoa, such hostility. I assume if you're using that tone of voice you're not in public anymore?" came a knowing voice.

Inuyasha gritted his teeth, calming himself as he spoke a bit softer. "Why are you calling _again?_"

"Hey, that first time was all Kouga's idea; I wanted to wait until later to call you."

"Great timing, asshole," Inuyasha grumbled as he walked up the steps to his apartment. As he entered his home his voice turned normal. "Safe. Now, what do you want, Miroku?"

"Just wanted to go over how we're gonna meet up tonight without disturbance," the drummer of his band said casually.

"I know, I was thinking of that. There's probably a shitload of vultures outside, huh?" the hanyou asked absently as he got a drink from his fridge, heading to his bedroom to change.

"Yeah, some are even staying at the hotel it seems..."

"Hell."

"Though if it helps, we got the loft room that's pretty much isolated from any other room. Have our own elevator, too. Sort of..." Miroku added as he heard rustling and an OOMPH! on the other end of the phone. "Uh, Inuyasha, are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," the hanyou said hopping from one foot to the other. "Changing out of that uniform I have to wear- _Ow, fuck!_- Just a sec."

The drummer blinked as he heard the phone land with a soft puff upon something cushy, probably having been thrown on the bed as the hanyou changed, Inuyasha grunting and grumbling in the background about school uniforms and wearing skirts that caused it to be rather drafty "up in there".

Miroku grinned on the other end as his friend picked up the phone again.

"Okay, I'm good," the hanyou said into the phone, somewhat breathless. "Uh, what were we talking about again?"

"You sound out of breath, Inuyasha. Exactly what kind of uniform is it they require you to wear?" Miroku asked as casually as he could.

"Ugh, just the standard one they make girls wear; skirt and top."

"Oh? They make you wear the really short skirts and tight tops with the little bows?" Miroku bit his lip.

"Some of the girls wear them; this school, thankfully, is lenient about what size you wear of top, same with the length of the skirt."

"Yeah, but do you wear them like that?"

"Huh? No way. I wear the long skirts down to my fucking ankles and the baggier tops; I kinda gotta hide the fact I have dude bits down there and no tits, ya know?" Inuyasha said irritably as he took a swig of his drink.

Silence.

"Uh, Miroku? Are you okay there?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, I just... You don't have tits when you're in your girl form?" came a rather saddened question.

It took a few seconds, but the half-demon finally understood what was going on.

"WHAT THE HELL! YOU FUCKING PERVERT!" Inuyasha hollered over the phone. "You... ugh, you are _**so**_ gross. Of COURSE I don't have tits or other girl parts when in that guise!"

"I didn't know! Honestly! I mean, it's not like I'm an expert in demon magicks or anything! I wasn't sure if that necklace changed your body parts as well as your appearance!" Miroku yelped out, his hands more than likely flailing at his sides in his perverted honesty.

"Keh," the inuhanyou snorted. "Well to settle whatever perverted fantasies you had conjured up in that sticky head of yours, I'm gonna tell it to you straight: I don't have boobs or a pussy, asshole. When I have that damned necklace on all it does is alter the appearance of my skin; it gets lighter and softer looking. My eyes and hair change color, too, and my ears shrink a bit, but other than that I'm all man thank you very fucking much," Inuyasha ended with an indignant huff.

"Hahaha," Miroku laughed awkwardly, trying to placate his friend. "Okay, okay, I get it. Though I won't say I'm not slightly disappointed but-" WHAP. "OW! Damnit, Kouga!"

"Inukoro, when you see him tonight make sure to hit him. Hard!" Kouga's voice yelled from the background, before grumbling. "Jesus, every damn time, I swear. Your mother must have dropped you on your head or let you watch porn when you were a kid for you to be like this."

"Oy!" Inuyasha snarled out over the phone, feeling a headache coming on. "Still here on the phone, though I'm not sure _why_ anymore-"

"Sorry about that," Miroku said, sounding anything but.

"Why the fuck are you calling me?"

"About that, we wanted to set up a time and place to meet you tonight."

"Oh, well... I was planning on somehow getting into the hotel and-"

"Are you out of your mind, inukoro!?" Kouga's voice yelled into the receiver, causing Inuyasha to wince as his ears rang in response. "No, shove off, Miroku, I'm talking now," he added, voice clearer as he commandeered the cell phone. "Now, idiot dog, what makes you think coming here is a good idea? Seriously, I've got to hear this, because whatever way you decide on will only end with you somehow fucking it up. How you've survived this long by yourself in Japan is beyond me."

"Asshole!" Inuyasha snapped. "What do you mean 'whatever way'?"

"If you were to come here as yourself, the media would blow up over it and you'd probably never get a chance to go back to whatever little hovel apartment you're living in-"

"It's not a hovel!" came an pathetic squawk.

"OR, you'll come here dressed as your girly ass self and make the paper's front page as having visited the bachelor suite of Hollywood Whore for the night. Your face- though pretty I'm sure it is- will be all over the news the next day with everyone in not only your neighborhood knowing, but also your school, of how much of a slut you-"

"_Finish that, fucker, and I'll rip your balls off!_" Inuyasha hissed darkly.

"In any case, you know that's what would happen. However, Miroku and I have come up with a great solution."

"..." Inuyasha waited.

And waited.

_And waited._

"WELL!?"

"To avoid all that fiasco, because we both know you suck at being stealthy, we'll be the ones going incognito tonight and meeting up at your apartment in an hour. So, see ya!"

CLICK.

Inuyasha blinked multiple times, his mouth partway open before his brow slowly creased in dawning horror.

THEY WERE COMING TO HIS APARTMENT?! The hanyou freaked, rampaging around his spacious but by no means extravagant apartment, throwing things this way and that and cleaning the best he could. Fuck, fuck, fuck!

* * *

><p>Sure enough, an hour and twenty-six minutes later, Kouga and Miroku were upon his doorstep (expertly disguised to the point that Inuyasha actually put his necklace back on when he opened the door to politely bow, thinking the bearded men had just gotten the wrong door).<p>

"Uuhh, I think... we got the wrong door," came Kouga's American voice under a faux mustache. "Sorry to intrude, miss."

Inuyasha's ears perked instantly at the very familiar voice and he looked up as the two men in business suits hobbled away down the corridor cursing at one another.

"You said it was floor 3, apartment D!" came a voice that sounded suspiciously like Miroku's. "I mean, not that I'm complaining, she's pretty cute, huh? Ow!"

"Shut up! We're late enough as it is! Besides, that's the apartment Inukoro said! And Kikyou's cousin confirmed it, asshole!"

"Maybe we got the wrong street-"

Inuyasha's eyes rounded as his slightly higher, feminine voice meep'd out in disbelief, "K-Kouga? Miroku?"

They stopped dead in their tracks.

And slowly turned around to glance at the girl standing outside her door now, large honey-brown eyes staring at them.

"Uhh, what? I'm not..." Kouga fumbled for his words.

"Shit, what are the chances? Maybe she's a fan?" Inuyasha heard Miroku whisper lowly, his heart rate picking up a couple notches.

"What are the fucking chances of that?!" Kouga hissed back.

Inuyasha sighed. "Don't be dumbasses, and get in here before someone discovers who you are. It's me, you two lunatics! For fuck's sake!" and with that the hanyou threw his hands up in the air and walked back into his apartment stiffly.

Left outside his apartment were two blinking men.

"Only one person I know has a mouth that would put a sailor to shame..." Kouga said slowly, not believing what his eyes had just seen.

Miroku's eyes brightened instantly. "_Inuy-!_"

Kouga slapped his hand over Miroku's mouth instantly. "Are you stupid or something?" he growled before dragging the immobile drummer into Inuyasha's apartment, shutting the door with his foot. They stopped and stared at the... girl... their friend?.. standing before them with her- err, _his_ hands on his hips.

An intense staring contest ensued.

"Wow, you make a really hot chick," came Kouga's silence shattering remark.

"I would have to agree," Miroku added his two cents, hand rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Even despite the obvious lack of chest, you make quite a becoming woman, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha's eyes widened, face going pink right up to his ears as he realized he... he _still_ had the fucking necklace on! Shit!

In a flurry of movements hardly becoming of a female (thank god), he tore the simple neck piece off and flung it onto a nearby table, his image instantly melting into his usual, and very _male_, visage.

It happened fast then, but one minute Miroku could have _sworn_ he'd been standing up when he suddenly found himself- and Kouga- on the ground with very large bumps decorating the crowns of their heads.

"Assholes," Inuyasha huffed out, walking away from his handiwork. "And take off your fucking shoes before coming in further."

"Do you have to hit so hard," Miroku winced, rubbing his head.

"Shut up."

"Huh. That's a pretty cool gadget you got there. I can see why it's fooling so many people," Kouga whistled from where he leaned against the door, grinning as Miroku and he shrugged their shoes and disguise off in the entryway.

"Wish I could say the same," Inuyasha grumbled, sending a glare over his shoulder.

Miroku blinked over at the rather frail looking necklace the hanyou had thrown off so fast one would think it had electrocuted him. He picked it up and examined it. "Nice. I'd never suspect a little thing like this to be the cause of that whole transformation. But..." his brows creased in critical thought. "Hey, Kouga, doesn't this look like the necklace Inuyasha gave Kikyou for their... what was it... 6 month anniversary?"

Kouga grabbed it, scrutinizing it himself. "Well, well... Kikyou sure can be a sneaky bitch when she wants to be, can't she?" he chuckled, throwing it back to the drummer as they walked further into the little apartment.

"You have no idea," Inuyasha said darkly, twitching as his friends found places to sit.

"Nice... apartment? It looks bigger than the ones I've seen-" Miroku started.

"When the hell have you been in someone's apartment? This is our first visit to Japan," Kouga snapped.

"Were you not paying attention at all today? We got a mini tour of the area, and they showed us some 'standard' apartments downtown. One… something. What do they call them?" Miroku turned to Inuyasha.

"One room mansions. Usually they're smaller than the one I'm in, but..."

"-But while you're modest for a celebrity, you're not THAT modest," Kouga finished for him, dodging a pillow that was hurled at his head with quick precision. "What? It's true."

Inuyasha just glared at him.

"Heh, so..." Miroku started, holding up the necklace; a polished, black pearl was the focal point and on either side of it was a smaller, rounded amethyst bead, strung together by a thin, silver chain. "If I put it on will I look more feminine?" the dark-haired boy snickered, making to put the necklace on, stopped only by Inuyasha's deadpanned stare.

"Won't work, it's linked to me, so give me that back or I'll fuck your shit up!" the half-demon said, before grabbing his necklace and tucking it into his pocket. He sighed, glaring over at his two best "frienemies". "Now, what exactly are you guys doing here? Do you wanna blow my cover?"

Kouga and Miroku quieted down and, in a rare moment of seriousness, looked at each other before Kouga spoke up first.

Inuyasha's eyes rounded as all expression fell from his face at what his friend told him then.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end.<em>

**Pink abomination:** Kouga and Miroku bought this phone for Inuyasha as a going away present (as well as a few other "pink" things you'll eventually see). For all you haters (I'm looking at you, Kayt!), I actually have this phone XD And I love it! If you google "LG dLite Bubble Gum" you'll see the pink one (and the blue one, I think).


	5. The Interview

**Chapter 5: The Interview**

Saturday had come too slow, yet too fast at the same time.

Sesshoumaru would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous as hell being here at the hotel, having been lucky enough to get into it before they'd closed the place off to the public. Even Onigumo Kagura, the only other living soul that knew of his fiercely hidden obsession with the band, had made it in with him.

She hadn't been gutsy enough to skip the entire day of school like he had and thus came wearing her school uniform while he had opted for a more... casual look, complete with a sheer, red-colored long sleeved shirt that clung to him in a becoming fashion, his black combat pants hugging his hips. His hair was pulled up into a high ponytail which showed off a slender neck in addition to a simple black beaded necklace. Barely noticeable behind stray hairs fanning across his left ear was a single, small golden hoop near the top.

While Kagura had initially been rather taken by the sight of him, she now glared daggers at all the girls around them that sent him heated looks. But he couldn't be bothered with whatever it was they were all staring at. All he could think was "If Takahashi-sama saw me like this, what would he think?" And that thought alone had him anxious as hell, regardless that the lustrous lead singer was off somewhere else, nowhere near this side of the world probably, let alone Edopolis of all places.

Even knowing that, however... He'd still never felt so self-conscious and confidant at the same time; it was a rather heady experience.

While he'd come here as a fan overall, he was more specifically looking forward to any information the other two in the band might give away of what Takahashi Inuyasha-sama was up to. There was no way the media here wouldn't ask questions regarding the lead singer of Hollywood Whore after all; while they were a bunch of selfish pariahs, they did serve the purpose of badgering celebrities into submission most of the time. And in this case he would wholeheartedly back them up in their endeavor if it meant he could get some inkling of what the guitar god was doing.

"AHHHH!" the room began to shake, erupting in instantaneous hysterics.

Sesshoumaru blinked in surprise as he looked up at the makeshift stage they'd set up for the interview. And there before them stood Mikuni Kouga-sama and Houshi Miroku-sama, Hollywood Whore's bassist and drummer, also known as Charisma-sama and Hentai-sama as far as Sesshoumaru was concerned. Especially when he thought of all the stories he'd read about them in the tabloids which had a tendency to keep track of and mark their many, _many_ exploits.

The cheering dimmed a fraction as the band sat down, hushing them as they got ready for the interview. And then the DJ who'd announced this event on the radio began speaking.

"Thank you all for joining us here today at the Sakura Hotel! And thank you, Hollywood Whore, for coming to visit us here in Japan and allowing us this great opportunity of interviewing you! We are very honored!" the man said enthusiastically, bowing.

The crowd cheered as Mikuni Kouga bowed and, smiling and waving at the audience as he did, answered, "Thank you so much for having us, we're honored to be here."

Houshi Miroku nodded, bowing as well.

"Now, we'd like to start off talking about your latest single, the self-titled song, Hollywood Whore, that Mikuni-sama sings lead on-" the DJ started off.

While Sesshoumaru listened and found every bit of information interesting he couldn't help but feel his patience thin, the more they talked and the less it was about Takahashi Inuyasha-sama. Like how they were really enjoying Japan, and they loved their fans, and how their...

Their...

Sesshoumaru's eyes rounded, his breath caught in his throat as he tried to believe the... _impossible_ sight now creeping up behind the ookami and pervert... Was it really...

_Takahashi Inuyasha-sama__,_ Sesshoumaru thought, eyes glued, mouth slightly parted.

The crowd seemed on the verge or crying out in overjoyed hysterics but the hanyou put a finger up to his lips, hushing them and continued to creep up toward his fellow band mates who were blissfully unaware of his presence... until it was too late.

"BOO!" he yelled out as he clasped his hands down on either of their shoulders from behind. The two doing the interview jumped in their seats, swinging their heads around at their friend, eyes huge.

The looks on their faces were surely priceless, but all Sesshoumaru could do was stare. Because never in a million years did he think such an opportunity would present itself to him like this... never in a million years did he think he'd ever get to see the dog-eared singer in person.

He was so close...

"Takahashi-sama! You were able to come! We had heard you were busy with things overseas?" the DJ's assistant asked as the half-demon pulled up a chair from behind the curtain and set it between his two band mates, taking a seat.

The hanyou smiled winningly and nodded, "Yeah, I... actually didn't think I'd be able to make it; but my schedule seemed to allow it so here I am. It's an honor to be here with all of you," he added, bowing his head in respect.

The audience bowed in return as all three of the band members took to answering different questions from everyone at the same time from either sides of the room, the recorders jotting down every word they said.

Sesshoumaru maneuvered closer to where the half-demon was, answering questions with a smile that seemed to make him want to smile in return, though he dared not show such a thing out in public. Instead he simply listened in absolute attention.

And then he'd heard the question the reporter actually had the gall to ask Takahashi Inuyasha-sama, one that- admittedly- he was just as eager to know as everyone else.

"Takahashi-sama, have you ever been involved with another male romantically?"

The girls went wild over it, and Sesshoumaru could only hiss to himself in annoyance, wishing they would quiet down and allow the hanyou to answer.

Inuyasha looked somewhat surprised by the direct question but had the grace to blush and look away for a moment before regaining his footing and chuckling.

"Well, before the band got big I did actually have a short thing with one of my band mates. Though, we found out shortly after it started that friendship was the better course, and we've stayed as such ever since, even now," he answered truthfully. "But I won't tell you who though. That's a secret," he added mischievously, drawing whines and cries from the girls listening.

Upon hearing the half-demon had accepted and been romantically involved in some form with another male... All Sesshoumaru could do at that point was allow his mind to fully fall into the gutter; the news was too overwhelming to do much else other than think how much he wanted to put that mouth of Takahashi-sama's to better use than answering questions that only served the audiences voyeuristic perversities.

It didn't help matters that – while quite talented- there was a pervert on one side of Takahashi-sama and a horny wolf on the other, and having absolutely no idea which one the hanyou messed around with.

"Next question," the half-demon said, smiling at all his adoring fans before pointing to a short balding man whose nose looked almost like a beak. "Uhh, you there."

"Do you think your stardom has declined due to you being of mixed heritage?" one snippy reporter asked, everyone in the entire room suddenly went quiet almost the moment the word "mixed" left his mouth.

Inuyasha blinked, taken aback, the smile on his face falling slowly. He frowned thoughtfully.

Sesshoumaru's heart stopped at the abrupt and abrasive question before he rounded in the direction of the journalist, ready to grab him by his collar and drag him outside. He'd throw him into the masses of Hollywood Whore fans, let them know what he'd had the gall to ask Takahashi Inuyasha-sama and then revel in the feeding frenzy that would soon follow.

_Oh yes, there would be blood_, Sesshoumaru thought, eyes darkening as his mindset turned feral.

He was soon brought back to the present by the hanyou's rather surprising response.

He raised his hands to calm the outraged cries of the fans. "Hey, now," he said before turning his attention back to the reporter, not noticing his band mates coming out of their own stupor. "I don't mind, I know to some people me being a half-breed-"

Sesshoumaru sucked in a breath, flashes of recent memories intertwining with the hanyou's words suddenly winding him.

"-causes some to doubt the music we make, and besides, I'm not really offended at all when people call me that so-"

"You might not be," came a deep growl to the hanyou's side, as a flash of dark hair zipped past him and over to the- now flailing in the air- reporter. "But I sure as hell am, and if you refer to him like that again, I'll rip your stinkin' guts out!" Mikuni Kouga-sama snarled out, throwing the man into a bunch of approaching guards. "Don't let trash like him in again."

"Kouga..." Inuyasha said from stage in rather reprimanding tone, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What?" the ookami snapped as he walked back to the stage, the fans respectfully parting for him.

"Couldn't you have just-"

Sesshoumaru's heart felt like it stopped yet again when blazing golden eyes caught his accidentally in the crowd. It didn't help his condition at all when he saw the owner of those eyes... blush? Was that his imagination? Or did he actually...

"Uuhh, w-well, I think that's all I can do for now, thanks for having me! Konnichiwa," the half-demon said out of nowhere, bowing before taking his leave and rushing backstage.

Sesshoumaru somehow felt at a loss as to what just happened.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end.<em>

Author's Note: When I saw a certain fanart over at deviantart I was just totally blown away by how awesome the artist was and how perfect the image was for what I had in mind for Sesshoumaru in this chapter. Check it out below (or on my profile page).


	6. The Boy with the Whore Tattoo

**Chapter 6: The Boy with the Whore Tattoo**

Inuyasha couldn't believe it when he saw it...

He'd been on stage for what felt like only a little while, answering some rather... personal questions as best he could when he'd spotted the white-haired demon; he almost didn't recognize him in the casual attire he'd been wearing, either... But then his eyes had zeroed in on those unmistakable markings streaking across his face. Markings he'd recognize anywhere despite how different the youkai presented himself.

Sesshoumaru Musashi had been standing there in the throng of fans, attached to him was a girl who he knew as Kagura Onigumo, her attire completely different from that which her male companion was wearing. She'd probably either been too afraid to wear something as racy as the demon next to her or had only just come from school from the looks of it; she was still wearing her school uniform.

_But that so isn't the point!_ Inuyasha's mind started spazzing again.

_Wh- What the hell is HE doing here?!_ Inuyasha thought horrified as he finished his interview rather hastily, waved his goodbyes to the fans and _hightailed his ass outta there_ behind the safety of the curtains in back. He was way too nervous about whether or not the two students from his school had somehow recognized him or not to care about how abrupt and probably rude his retreat had been (he knew Kouga and Miroku would just chalk it up to him having been "upset" about the snooty reporter).

Shit. If Sesshoumaru- especially if HE- recognized him… crap!

Sure, Sesshoumaru was in... rather casual clothes... a form fitting, sheer top and some pretty awesome black, combat pants... and with his hair tied up like that it really accented how lean he really was... but that wasn't he point! No, the point was Sesshoumaru and, what he assumed was, the demon's girlfriend from his school were HERE...

What if they recognized him while he was on stage?

Fuck, if Kouga and Miroku coming here to help him find his father faster due to his mother's condition worsening wasn't enough... now this?

Inuyasha shook his head from side to side frantically, dispelling any and all thoughts regarding that.

In any event, he couldn't stay here and see whether he'd been recognized or not. He would not take that chance.

Grabbing his cell and bag he made his great escape through the back entrance.

* * *

><p>"You've got a what?" Kouga asked, blinking as he took a swig of water, thankful they were done with the mass of fans and only a select few were now backstage with him and the crew.<p>

"He has a tattoo of your band's logo!" the red-eyed, body-licious girl before him chirped about the male standing next to her.

"Wow, really?" he blinked again. Huh.

"Yes," the guy replied looking rather uncomfortable despite his girlfriend's perkiness, it seemed.

"Sweet, is it okay if I ask to see it?" Kouga asked, giving a grin he knew made not only women but men, too, weak in the knees.

"Of course," the male replied and turned around to show him in a very business-like fashion.

And apparently this guy wasn't batting for the home team, Kouga surmised, slightly miffed that he couldn't even make a straight guy blush like a certain inukoro could without even trying.

And then he caught sight of the tattoo he was suppose to be paying attention to, and-

"Oh... _Fucking hell_. That is the most _awesome thing_ I've ever seen! I don't think I've ever ran into any other fan that's done that yet; you're totally hardcore, man!" Kouga smiled, completely aghast at how awesome their fans were. "Shit, I gotta tell Inuyasha! Gimme a sec!"

Sesshoumaru twitched. He... He wasn't going to make Takahashi Inuyasha-sama come over here for something so silly? No, he couldn't. It was just a tattoo that wasn't anything remarkable enough to interest Inuya-

"Oi! Inukoro!" the ookami yelled over his cell phone. "Get your ass over here! We've got a guy here who has a tattoo of the band's logo! It's fucking awesome! _NO!_ Don't give me that bullshit about having to leave again; you'll make your fucking appointment in time! Just get over to room 5 or I'll seriously pound into you next time we- Oh, there you are."

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed; _"...pound into him"? _he thought, eye twitching again before he whirled around to stare at the very one he'd thought he'd never meet in a lifetime coming into the room.

"For fuck's sake, what is so important that I have to- Oh. Uh... hi." Inuyasha said lamely as he caught sight of a few fans inside the room; two of which he knew... possibly didn't know he was who he was outside of being a rockstar...

The girls squealed and crowded around him, asking how he'd been, what he'd been up to and how long he'd be staying in Edopolis. Inuyasha smiled at them all, his charm kicking in to appease the group as he answered the questions he felt comfortable replying to and shaking hands and giving autographs.

Sesshoumaru stood near the back of the room and merely observed what was going on. His eyes narrowed in dismay at the females' unsightly behavior, never once noticing the blue eyes that swung his way, the person's head tilting a bit to the side in curiosity of why exactly the white-haired demon was glaring at his friend for... or if it was even _Inuyasha_ he was glaring at...

However, before Kouga could think more on the topic, he heard another delighted cry come from the group of females as Miroku walked into the room behind Inuyasha. The charismatic drummer flashed the small crowd a winning smile as his smooth voice cooed to their adoring fans. The ookami rolled his eyes.

"Now, ladies, there's enough of the both of us to go around; though don't get too clingy with Inuyasha, he's a bit touchy about his personal space," Miroku said laying a hand on his friend's back.

Inuyasha shot his friend a dark look, muttering sinisterly for all to hear, "Get that hand off my back before I break it in so many places they won't be able to tell they're finger bones."

"Right, right," Miroku laughed, holding up his hands to show he wouldn't press his luck. "Sometimes I forget you're not as loose with people as Kouga is-"

Scandalized gasps and chirping giggles were the only things heard throughout the room.

"I'm sorry, what did you say? I think I misheard you," Kouga said in a playfully low voice, focus zeroing in on Miroku, who had the courtesy to snap his mouth shut, sweat dropping as he took a step back, laughing nervously.

Unfortunately that didn't save him in the least as the wolf pounced the next moment and a scuffle began.

"Kouga," Inuyasha sighed, trying to get his friend's attention as the girls around them squealed at how adorable it was that they fought "like brothers".

"Asshole, how d'you like this! Time to grovel, worm!" the ookami battle cried, tackling Miroku to the ground again and proceeding to noogie the poor bastard.

"Aye, aye, aye! Uncle! _Uncle!_ Damnit! I said 'Uncle', you stupid-!" Miroku yelled out, irritated, wincing as his assaulter continued torturing him.

"_**Kouga!**_ Why am I here again?" Inuyasha said, pinching the bridge of his nose in agitation at how utterly stupid his band mates were acting in front of their fucking FANS. These two would probably never shut up if he didn't intervene. "If this is all I'm here for, I'm just gonna-"

"Oh," Kouga paused, blinking, before he let go of the thoroughly peeved drummer. Shoving the other away he got up and walked over to his destination, not noticing a rep coming in to collect the girls and Miroku.

"This guy right here; c'mere, man," the ookami beckoned from the side. Inuyasha opened his eyes and his heart picked up as he noticed it was Sesshoumaru that Kouga was talking about.

_Shit, please don't notice it's me, please don't notice it's me_, he thought in his head frantically. When he saw the demon keep his eyes at a respectful level and come up to him bowing lowly in greeting he got the impression that Sesshoumaru really didn't know who he was after all.

His heart rate slowed and he calmed down, bowing in return as un-awkwardly as he could.

"What's your name again?" Kouga asked, putting an arm around the other demon's shoulders like they were the best of buddies.

"Musashi... Sesshoumaru," the demon said stiffly at the unexpected contact.

Inuyasha noticed him tense, feeling a migraine coming on at how uncultured Kouga really was to be invading someone's space like he was.

"Uh, Kouga, wanna let go of him?" Inuyasha spoke up, catching both demons' attentions immediately. He nearly blushed at the undivided and surprised consideration he got. "What?" he snarked irritably at Kouga's expression. "Look, you dumbass, the Japanese don't go around hugging or touching each other so personally, that's something that's usually done by close friends and family only, so you're kind of not only invading his personal space but making him uncomfortable. In laymen's terms, it's _rude_."

Kouga blinked, looked over at the male that stood about as tall as him and then back at Inuyasha. And let go. "Ah, sorry, sorry, I wasn't aware," the wolf apologized, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's alright, you aren't familiar with our customs after all," the inuyoukai said looking over at Kouga as he said this before turning back to Inuyasha, his eyes holding a strange intrigue in them.

"How the hell do you know so much about this anyway, inukoro?" Kouga slipped back into his rude behavior, slightly miffed he'd been called out in front of their fans.

Inuyasha sighed. "If you're just gonna give me that kind of attitude I'm heading out. It was nice to meet you all," he said, bowing before turning around and trying to make a quick getaway before his school rival could get a good look at him. Who knew what kind of senses a demon possessed that could possibly identify him, even through the magick guise he used? He wasn't willing to chance it if he didn't have to...

"Ah, ah! No you aren't!" Kouga said grabbing Inuyasha's arm before he could clink off, swinging him around again. "You've gotta see his tattoo, it's absolutely sick."

"Sick?" Sesshoumaru asked, brow creasing as he didn't understand the meaning.

"He means it's 'cool'," Miroku provided coming into the room again.

"When the hell did you slink out?" Kouga asked perplexed.

"After I shoved you away from me, idiot. Now come on, Kouga, they want us in room 4 with the girls; some sort of magazine spread involving our female fans- No offense, man," he nodded at Sesshoumaru. The demon merely nodded his head in understanding.

"Why not inukoro? He's always getting out of this shit," Kouga grumbled, heading out all the same. "Well if you don't have to come with you can stay with this guy and check out his tattoo. We'll be right back."

And with that, they left Inuyasha alone in a room with Sesshoumaru Musashi.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end.<em>

Author's Note: I love this chapter's title, it amused me fully, haha. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it! Let me know your thoughts.


	7. An Awkward Exchange

**Chapter 7: An Awkward Exchange**

An uncomfortable silence filled the room then as they were the only two bodies left standing around awkwardly. At least, that's how the Inuyasha felt suddenly, the other male's presence nearly suffocating him.

Fuck... he couldn't exactly excuse himself and leave the poor bastard here by himself... How rude would that be?

"Yeaaah, so- Uh... I'm... surprised as many fans showed up today. I thought the schools here ran from Monday to Saturday," he wondered aloud as he shoved his hands in his jean pockets and bit his lip.

Sesshoumaru looked toward the door, trying not to notice the... admittedly rather adorable look that crossed over than hanyou's face. Perhaps he was just as... uncomfortable as he was being alone together. "They do run Monday through Saturday, but I would assume the majority of us skipped today to be here."

"Us? Hmm," Inuyasha hummed, looking down at the floor while rocking back and forth on the heels of his feet. "I'm kinda surprised you're a fan actually..." before snapping his mouth shut and stumbling. Dear god, that didn't just... he didn't just say that did he? Wide eyes flew up to meet intense gold.

Shit Apparently his band mates had been right about him all along! He did come with a set of simple, stupid guidelines to follow, ones they'd outlined for him as: "The Inuyasha Instruction Manual: Step One: Open mouth. Step Two: Insert foot."

_SHIT_, he swore to himself again as he caught that stare the other held him in for a few intense moments. Why was Sesshoumaru looking at him so strongly!? Inuyasha panicked. The next moment the demon looked away, an odd sort of color gracing his features.

"Do you not have male fans in other parts of the world?" the youkai asked before turning back to him politely.

_O-oh_, Inuyasha blinked, feeling his heart rate go down (fucking hell this guy was gonna give him high blood pressure at this rate! Or even a heart attack!). He'd only taken Inuyasha's comment as a way of saying they didn't have many male fans?

"Uhh, no, we do, it's just... I suppose I'm not entirely used to the culture here in Japan... most of our male fans dress... differently, I suppose. At least, that's what I'm used to seeing..." Inuyasha staggered over his words once more. "Yep, usually... lots and lots of black... and Mohawks..." What the fuck was he trying to say again?

"I apologize, in all honesty, I wasn't exactly sure how to dress for this event," Sesshoumaru admitted, chuckling a bit at the cost of his own pride surely.

Inuyasha did a double take as if he didn't believe the demon had misheard him. "Oh... no, you're fine, you look really good actually." The hanyou missed the widening of Sesshoumaru's golden eyes and continued on with talking. "Now, what's this about a tattoo? Where is it?"

Sesshoumaru seemed at a loss of words for a moment before regaining his footing and turning his back to the hanyou in somewhat of a daze. "Here," he said, lifting the back of his shirt up a bit.

"Damn," Inuyasha swore as he looked at their logo permanently engraved on the other male's lower back. Proper placement for a Hollywood Whore tattoo if he ever saw one. "That's... wow, that's really amazing," he smiled at how some fans were so dedicated to them as to mark their bodies like that.

Sesshoumaru turned around, pulling his shirt down, that odd coloring spreading across his nose once more.

"Wow," Inuyasha whistled absently.

"Hm?" Sesshoumaru questioned, eyes drawing up in confusion.

"You're... totally ripped, how much do you practice kendo anyway?"

Sesshoumaru looked taken aback a bit before, "How... can you tell I practice kendo?"

Inuyasha winced, swearing as he coughed. Yup. It definitely looked like Inuyasha would fuck this up all by himself. No help needed. Jesus.

"Uh… I guess that was a little presumptuous of me... thinking every Japanese male practiced kendo... heh," he said lamely. "Too many ninja movies, I guess..."

"Oh," Sesshoumaru let out a laugh, smiling genuinely, an act that Inuyasha had never witnessed at school before... And all he could do at that point was stare.

_He actually looks... kinda attractive when he smiles like that_, Inuyasha thought, not having nearly enough time to enjoy the rare, if not nearly non-existent, sight.

"Uh, it's just... I like kendo a lot, and practice when I can myself... and... yeah... Not sure where I was going with that," he laughed it off.

"You like kendo?"

"Mhm, takes the edge off from a long day, ya know? Kind of helps focus my mind when my thoughts are scattered. Doesn't hurt that I feel like an action hero when I do it either, stupid as tat may be," the half-demon said chuckling before looking around him as a buzzing went off in his pants. He pulled out a black phone (his "when in my real form I use this MAN phone" cell. "Sorry," he apologized as he flipped it open and checked the text Kouga just sent.

_**Gonna be a while. Miroku keeps fuckin' up and flirting instead of paying attention to the camera. The whore. -.-**_

_Well, hell._ The hanyou sighed flipping it shut and shoving it back in his pocket. "Sit down, I have a feeling they might be a bit longer than they thought."

They sat there in silence, nothing but their obviously altered breathing patterns echoing through the rather bare room. Inuyasha had never felt more nerve wrecked in his entire life.

"So, uh... did you come here with friends from school?"

Sesshoumaru tilted his head slightly at the phrasing of that question, thinking nothing more of it when the hanyou winced.

"Sorry, I mean-"

"My friends aren't aware of this... hobby of mine," came a carefully worded reply.

Inuyasha blinked owlishly. _You gotta be shittin' me... The fearless, cold-hearted class president was... what..._ "Embarrassed about liking us?" The hanyou's mouth snapped shut, not having meant to say that aloud.

The youkai's eyes widened a bit and- from what the half-demon could tell- looked a bit upset over the insinuation alone.

"No, it's not that."

"Then, if you're not embarrassed by liking us, why all the secrecy?"

"I'm a... very private person. And I like that my business is my own. So, yes, the fact that I'm a fan is something of a secret, even to my friends." Sesshoumaru admitted.

_In other words, he's a control freak, too. Ah well, that makes more sense, I guess... Usually people want to share things like that though with friends or family, but whatever..._ Inuyasha thought. He leaned back against the couch, yawning. "Except your girlfriend right?"

"Girlfriend?" the youkai looked over at the hanyou, brows creased in what was now probably routine confusion.

"Yeah, the girl you came here with..."

"She's not my girlfriend," came the stern reply that left no room for argument, a shadow crossing over his face. "She just... happened upon something she wasn't supposed to know," Sesshoumaru said darkly.

Inuyasha blinked several times before he started laughing at the demon's expression, never having seen such a peeved yet embarrassed look from the other in the time he'd known him. His amusement only served to make the youkai flush lightly, which the more the half-demon saw of it thought was rather becoming on him.

"So uh-... How'd that happen?" Inuyasha asked, forcing his lips to stay together and tightening his belly against the chuckles. "Your girlf- err, friend that's a girl, figure it out?"

"It was an unfortunate occurrence but one I... suppose I don't regret happening overall," the demon began, leaning back in the seat he'd taken; growing a bit more comfortable in his idol's presence. "It happened about two years ago. I had never gone out of my way to be around other people, yet somehow always found Onigumo-san there."

The demon went on explaining his strange relationship to the red-eyed girl, Kagura, and throughout most of the conversation, all Inuyasha could do was go into automatic-nodding and agreeing and humming mode like he did whenever interviewers asked the same question over and over again. It wasn't that he wasn't interested in what Sesshoumaru had to say, he was oddly enough, it was just ever since he'd entered the school Kagura had always been rather... abrasive with his female alter ego, Inuzumi. She wasn't nearly as bad as the other kids but she definitely wasn't someone he'd say was nice either.

"-She wasn't able to go home to change before coming here from school," Sesshoumaru continued on.

"Yeah, I noticed that," Inuyasha said, hoping the laugh in his voice was muffled. However, from the way the demon's cheeks lightly colored it had apparently been obvious.

"The president of the school insists on those colors. We're, unfortunately, somewhat infamous among the other senior high schools in the region because of it."

Inuyasha laughed aloud, knowing all too well that "Yeah, Edo Metro University definitely gets its due shit where the dress code is concerned."

A moment passed then. One comprised of:

Complete.

And.

Utter.

Silence

The room filled with only Inuyasha's slowly dying chuckles as he looked over to see if Sesshoumaru was still there. Seeing that he was he couldn't quite figure out why the demon had gone so completely quiet once again-

"I... never mentioned what school I attend..." the demon said carefully.

Inuyasha's eyes widened so much he thought his eyeballs would pop out of his skull.

Oh my fucking god... He just made the BIGGEST mistake he could have with his comment and now- _FUCK MY LIFE_, the hanyou could have yelled out the window for all to hear. How the HELL was he going to save his ass now?! Shit!

"I-"

"How did you-"

"Oh... Uh- I... I have a... a _friend_... that goes there... so... when I saw your girl friend's- err, friend's- uniform I recog…nized... it?" he said, eyes shifty behind his bangs. That was the best he had? Fuck. Farewell, Japan! Goodbye any chance he had to find his father! See ya later, stupid-

"Oh?" the demon inquired, not daring to ask the hanyou to elaborate aloud, but his intensely interested stare all out demanding it. A... command... that said hanyou felt he needed to answer if this was the only opportunity he had to correct his monumental mistake...

"Aiko... Inuzumi..." Inuyasha said out of pure desperation for a name.

Sesshoumaru blinked at him, eyes slowly widening in response.

Yeeeep. Open mouth. Insert foot.

And eat shit.

What the _**hell**_ had he just gotten himself into?!

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end.<em>

Author's Note: First- If you'd like to see the band's logo and Sesshoumaru's tattoo you can find it at my deviantart account (or on my profile).

Second- Once again, Kaytla, thank you for being so infectious. She had me nearly crying out in hysterics with her comment of "The Inuyasha Instruction Manual: Step One: Open mouth. Step Two: Insert foot." Thank you to all that have read and reviewed!


	8. Friends with Himself

**Chapter 8: Friends with... Himself**

"Just breathe... It'll be fine..." Inuyasha told himself over and over again. "Nothing to worry about... It's just-"

"Just that you basically told the guy that's given you hell at school for the last month or so that you were _friends_... with yourself. Seriously, inukoro, what the hell is wrong with you? Were you BORN with your foot in your mouth or what?" Kouga Mikuni laughed over the phone.

_Screw you, asshole!_ Inuyasha thought as he crossed a street full of pedestrians, not having the ignorant balls to start cursing the ookami out for fear of looking INSANE.

"I mean, I almost didn't believe it when you told us you knew the guy with the tat. No wonder you were so weird around him the whole time," Kouga hummed, oddly thoughtful. "Would make sense then of that look..."

"Huh? What the fu-... What are you talking about?" Inuyasha said distractedly as he approached the block his school was on. "Look, I've gotta get off soon; almost to school."

"Mmk. Just remember, inukoro: You need to man up- or in this instance, 'girl up'- and go to school acting like nothing's changed. Things will be fine. Trust me," the ookami said in a strangely knowing voice.

"What the hell does that mean?!"

"_Trust me_. He won't realize it. His focus is probably lasered in on... something else right now if what you told him matches my assumption."

"Kouga!" the hanyou complained.

"Have fun at school, inu-_chan_!" the wolf cackled before hanging up.

Inuyasha grumbled fiercely as he put the thing on Silent and shoved his "use this pink piece of shit to feel utterly emasculated" phone into his bag, trudging to school as if walking to his own death.

Today, he decided, would probably be the last day he walked through these doors if Sesshoumaru figured out who he really was...

* * *

><p>Sesshoumaru tapped a claw against his desk in agitation. What was going on? Aiko Inuzumi hadn't been in school for the past two days (three if he counted the day the students offhandedly mentioned she'd been gone as well; the day of the interview with Hollywood Whore).<p>

He wondered idly if she had been spending time with the band then... especially if she was in acquaintance with Takahashi Inuyasha-sama... Though with the rumors that were going around about Hollywood Whore filming their next single's music video here in Edopolis he wouldn't be surprised, especially since one of those rumors involved a mysterious, dark-haired female having been photographed coming outside of Takahashi-sama's private dressing room trailer.

Apparently Mikuni Kouga had later shooed off all paparazzi after the incident, refusing to answer any questions about the girl, or if she was the half-demon's girlfriend or what not. Sesshoumaru would bet almost anything though that Aiko Inuzumi was the girl the photographer's had caught on camera despite the picture's graininess in the papers.

Though he wondered, if she'd been gone the day of the interview why hadn't he seen her? He resolved to ask her that himself. That is if he could work up how to even approach the subject of how she fell into cahoots with a famous rock star.

When he thought about it more, it did make a bit more sense than he'd originally surmised: How Aiko Inuzumi wasn't obsessed with the band like all of the other girls were since she was friends with the band. Or was it only Takahashi Inuyasha-sama she was friends with?

Or had they... had more than a friendship?

Sesshoumaru gulped hard at the thought. What if they were in a relationship? What if-

The room quieted down as their sensei came in, followed by one Aiko Inuzumi. She had her head down- which, for her, was rather odd and uncharacteristic from what Sesshoumaru had determined about the girl's personality thus far. She walked like one condemned to her chair and took a seat, studiously avoiding eye contact with all in the room.

The class resumed as usual, students murmuring as the teacher started an educational film, during which time Sesshoumaru tried to inconspicuously stare over at Aiko Inuzumi wondering how he'd start a conversation with her after all the things he'd said to and put her through already.

* * *

><p>Inuyasha had HAD it. He'd fucking HAD IT.<p>

For the past three fucking classes, Sesshoumaru Musashi had done nothing but STARE at him. He didn't approach him in any fashion. He didn't try to start up a conversation. He didn't even bump into him accidentally.

He had either just given him a wide berth in the hallways and classrooms like he had an STD that was caught by BREATHING the same goddamn air, or had eye raped him from afar. Either way, the half-demon had had e-fucking-nough of it!

So he'd devised a plan of how he'd get the bastard to come to him whether he liked it or not. At least then something would be said and the tension he could probably cut with a wet piece of paper would subside a bit... Or so he hoped.

His grand master scheme? He would either give in to his peer's usual provocations during lunch or provoke some of them himself. Hopefully then Sesshoumaru would see it or get wind of it and come rushing in like he had before. He kind of felt like the demon had been keeping tabs on him ever since the incident a few days ago during lunch when he'd come out of nowhere and basically told everyone to get the fuck out and leave him, or rather "her", alone.

Granted, he hadn't been to school for the past few days but… if the way the kids were giving him grumbly looks before shooting fearful ones over toward the youkai and then going about whatever business they had wasn't a dead giveaway... Well, he wasn't sure what was.

Hmm, so how to confront the demon without having to go up to him and instigate the conversation he was sure was going to make him more uncomfortable than the time he was caught with tampons up his nose (it was to stifle a bloody nose, alright!)?

Inuyasha's eyes widened as an idea sprang to mind the moment he spotted two of his adversaries walking his way to dump their trays (well, one was his adversary for sure, the other... not so much; she was more just a bitch). Hmm, if he played this right, maybe he could make it look like an accident... Not only that but he was more than sure the male of the pair would cause a huge commotion of the slight. That'd be sure to get Sesshoumaru's attention.

Inuyasha nodded to himself and stood up, tray in hand as the pair passed him-

-and in a feat that would one day be known as the greatest acting he'd ever done in his life, he accidentally-on-purpose tripped, his tray free flying all over Kagura Onigumo and Ueda Takehiro.

The result was instantaneous, and just how Inuyasha had predicted; Kagura shrieked, dropping her own tray, while Takehiro merely looked confused for a moment before his eyes rounded on the half-kneeling, half on the ground hanyou, eyes going wide very briefly before narrowing to slits.

"What's the meaning of this, half-breed," he grounded out, kicking the food off his shoes and into the students nearby carelessly before rounding back on "her".

Inuyasha put on his most baffled face before standing up and bowing, biting his lip to keep from laughing the entire time.

"Gomen, I slipped," he said in the softer voice he used when in this guise. He stayed in his position- partially so he didn't crack a smile and partially because he really didn't wanna stand there in a glare down with the arrogant asshat.

He was thankful when Kagura refrained from saying a word to him, and instead leveled "Aiko Inuzumi" with a nasty glare that he caught between his dark bangs, before she stormed off with as much dignity as she could covered in food from the top of her short skirt to the tips of her toes. Takehiro, on the other hand, stayed in place, staring her down still.

_Ugh, this asshole is the creepiest out of all of these kids. Even with Sesshoumaru in the room today I could still feel his angry eyes on me, glaring holes in my head and hoping my head would explode_. Inuyasha sighed as he righted himself. Yep. That was one angry glare directed- and especially- for him. He bit his lip again to keep from laughing out loud.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself, half-breed," the male demanded, taking a step closer to her.

"I just apologized, so not much more than that," came Inuyasha's best irritated Aiko Inuzumi voice. The hanyou then moved to pick up his tray and scoop up what he could of the mess on the ground before he got a face full of smooshed food in _his _face.

Inuyasha's eyes were wide with surprise. _That asshole did _not_ just-_

Takehiro laughed, some people around them joining in nervously.

_Jackass!_ Inuyasha growled to himself as he threw his tray down onto the ground and glared hard at his opponent, ready to fight-

Before deciding the boy wasn't worth it.

Inuyasha took a breath as he counted to ten to steady his nerves before he could lose it and freaked out and go all Chuck Norris on the guy's ass!

"You know what? Fuck it, you're not worth it, asshole," Inuyasha said before rolling his eyes and turning around to leave.

A strong arm shot out and a threatening voice whispered close to one of his furry black ears. "I've never hit a girl before for being so disrespectful, but I'm-"

"Not about to hit one now unless you'd like me to break my own rule of school violence as well... Takehiro-san," came an even deadlier voice from behind Ueda Takehiro.

The crowd around them went utterly still.

* * *

><p>The air seemed to chill with the newcomer's voice and the onlookers all around them began to slowly and carefully disperse, as if making any sudden move might refocus the class president's wrath on them instead.<p>

"Musashi-senpai," the boy said tightly, slowly letting go of Aiko Inuzumi's arm. He turned around then and bowed.

"Class will start soon; go change out of those soiled clothes," Sesshoumaru ordered before looking pointedly over at Aiko Inuzumi and motioning for her to follow him out of the cafeteria.

The girl, surprisingly, obeyed and followed him.

As they walked down the hallway and rounded a corner he directed her toward the washrooms. When she looked at him quizzically, he sighed and raised a brow at her attire.

She looked down and blinked at herself before returning his gaze evenly, still apparently confused. That or she didn't particularly mind wearing her own lunch.

"I don't really care what my clothes look like," she said slowly, as if talking to a child.

Well, there he had it. Sesshoumaru grit his teeth.

"Half-" Sesshoumaru shut his eyes and took a breath to correct himself. This was definitely going to be a challenge. "Aiko Inuzumi. While you may not care that your clothes are soiled, the school will."

She frowned at him for a moment.

"Oh... fine, fine," the hanyou sighed, her tone somewhat aggravated. She turned to enter the washroom, hesitating going in for a moment before continuing on.

Sesshoumaru turned and started walking down the empty corridor to his- their- next class.

"Oh, Se- Err,... Musashi-senpai?" Aiko Inuzumi called to him.

Sesshoumaru paused, eyes closing as he counted to ten once more. She apparently didn't realize one didn't just _shout_ down the hallway like they were outside... or in America... where unrefined things like that probably happened on a daily basis.

"Hai?" he said regardless, not bothering with turning around.

"Thanks. Ya know, for earlier. It was... nice. Of you. So, yeah. Thanks for that," she said awkwardly. Sesshoumaru heard a curse further away and assumed the girl had rushed into the bathroom after thanking him.

Sesshoumaru shook his head at how strange the girl could be before continuing on to class.

As he took his preferred seat in the classroom his ears twitched as he caught Takehiro's voice from down the hallway, automatically on alert the second her heard him mention Aiko Inuzumi.

"Just meet me across the street after school alright?" he mumbled.

His friend, Sesshoumaru assumed, sounded uneasy as he replied. "What good is scaring her going to do? She'll probably just go running to Musashi-senpai."

Takehiro stifled a laugh. "Please, she may have him as a 'protector' here at school for whatever reason, but she's not the type to run to someone for help if she's put on the spot."

An odd pause passed then before his friend replied. "Look, I don't want to do this. I have nothing against her, and I really don't want to be killed by Musashi-senpai, so why don't you just-"

"Like hell!" Takehiro hissed. "Fine, if you won't help me, I'll do it myself."

"Following her to her home is called stalking, Takehiro. It's illegal," his friend replied hastily. Apparently he was the wiser of the two, Sesshoumaru deduced.

"Only if I'm caught," came a low reply. "Com'on, let's go to class before we get in trouble."

Sesshoumaru turned his attention to his book, feigning reading as they entered the room.

Just before the bell rang, Aiko Inuzumi came in the room, taking the only seat left; right behind Sesshoumaru. And that's when the demon's mind started working.

Takehiro was planning... what? To ambush the girl and scare her somehow?

Sesshoumaru thought on that for no more than a second before his eyes narrowed sightlessly at his book.

_Like hell I'll let that happen. Especially not when I've already made it clear to everyone that she's not to be bothered._ The hardbook in his hands gave way a bit as his grip tightened. He glanced over at the back of Takehiro's head. _He needs to learn his place._

As class begun, Sesshoumaru scribbled something down on a piece of paper and then discreetly passed the note to the desk behind him.

He heard a confused "Eh?" from Aiko Inuzumi before she opened it.

It read:

**I'll be walking you home today.**

And then-

"_EEHHHHHH?!_" she yelled out, standing up, her chair scraping against the floor with the burst of her upheaval.

"Aiko-san, is everything alright?" the teacher asked, looking none too pleased.

Aiko Inuzumi was beet red, eyes wide and mouth flapping like a fish. "I-... I'm... Yes, I'm sorry for interrupting, sensei," she bowed before taking her seat again.

Class resumed then.

Moments ticked by before Sesshoumaru heard the low whirl of Aiko Inuzumi's voice whispering harshly to him.

"Why are you-!"

"You've no say in the matter," he replied tersely.

"I said thank you earlier, what more do you people want from me!" she hissed.

"That'll be explained later. After class I'll meet you at your locker," he said, then paused thoughtfully. "Be there or I'll find you and drag you home myself."

Satisfied with the indigent _hmph_ the girl exasperated then, he turned his full attention to the lesson at hand.

Or, rather, he tried to.

A scrape of chair against the floor was heard once more from behind him.

"Aiko-san? What is it now," the teacher sighed, placing the book she had been referring to throughout the lesson down.

"I have to use the bathroom," she said boldly. The girls in class gasped at how utterly brazen and fearless she was asking such a question in front of all the boys; usually they'd walk up to the desk quietly and whisper their request to the teacher before, inconspicuously as they could, walk out of the classroom to their destination.

Their sensei sighed again but nodded. "Alright, hurry up."

And with that Aiko Inuzumi was out of there before anyone could blink.

* * *

><p><em>Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!<em>

What the HELL... who… FUCK! Who the hell did Sesshoumaru think he was threatening him like that?! Or was it even a threat?

Okay, the last part about dragging him home probably was... but the youkai seemed really serious about actually walking him the fuck home. And if that was the case...

He was glad he'd been allowed to go to "the bathroom", otherwise later he might be in way over his head.

"Come on, pick up, pick UP, PICK UP!" he hissed into the receiver of (what Kouga liked to call) his "manjina phone". "Come on, you fuckers, pick the hell-"

"Ohayo!" Miroku greeted in a rather impressive accent.

"Ohayo my ass. Get to a secure location and put me on speaker! And get Kouga!" Inuyasha griped.

"Is that inukoro?" came Kouga's voice in the background.

Miroku probably nodded before saying to Inuyasha, "Secure, captain. What's up?"

"Listen, Sesshoumaru's walking me home after school-"

A whistle was heard.

A very distinctive, _ookami_ whistle.

"Well, that was fast. I'm impressed," Kouga said, voice smug. "You owe me a hundred, Miroku; I called it."

"Damn it," Miroku grumbled.

"GUYS! Can we focus here! I don't have much time left!" Inuyasha growled them out.

"Fine, fine. What's so important, inukoro?"

"He's walking me home for some reason; I think it has to do with this kid Takehiro who sorta... tried hitting me today during lunch."

"WHAT!" Kouga and Miroku yelled, outraged.

"Who the hell is he, I'll mess his shit up-!" Kouga started going.

"Chill the fuck out, will you?" the hanyou groaned, hitting his head against the wall as he leaned against the toilet. "Look, I think Sesshoumaru's just being all gentlemanly or whatever and making sure that jackass doesn't mess with me or something. In any case, the important thing is he's coming OVER."

"Uh huh..."

"To my HOME."

"Right..."

"Where I LIVE."

"…and?"

"AND, you asshats, it doesn't exactly look like a GIRL is living there!"

"Oh."

"Yeah. Look, I need you to run over there, throw some pink shit around and then get the hell out before I get home. Can you do that?" Inuyasha nearly pleaded.

There was a long, suspicious pause before his band mates agreed. While Inuyasha had his doubts that they'd do what he asked, he had no choice but to rely on them for now.

Unfortunately.

"I'll text you when we get within a few blocks, alright? I gotta go now."

And with that he shut his phone off, inhaling a huge breath of air. All he could do was hope those two numbskulls came through for him and that Sesshoumaru didn't go weird on him for whatever his reason was for walking him home.

Inuyasha grumbled as he walked back to class. As he took his seat he avidly refused to acknowledge that Sesshoumaru was eyeing him via the window's reflection like a fucking stalker.

Granted, that was his own fault to begin with... but still.

Jesus... first he outted himself about knowing... well, _himself_... Now he has the guy that had given him a hard time up until recently coming over to his home?

What the fuck was next? A love confession from Takehiro?

Inuyasha groaned, letting his head fall to his desk, feigning reading his text as one thought resounded through his head.

_Fuck. My. Life._

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end.<br>__  
><em>Author's Note: If you remember, Takehiro was the guy that grabbed at Aiko in Chapter 3: Half-Breed. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!

P.S. Chuck Norris (c) Chuck Norris. xD


	9. Enemy in the Hold!

**Chapter 9: Enemy in the Hold!**

Alright, fine. He'd do it. He'd man the fuck up and meet Sesshoumaru at his locker and let him- for whatever insane reason he had- walk him HOME, the half-demon conceded to himself. While under normal circumstances he'd never allow another dude do this, never mind invite said dude into his man cave, he'd just have to deal with it this time around.

Especially seeing as this situation was... so completely beyond his definition of "normal circumstances" that he'd have no choice but to "man down" and let his pride take a backseat if he were going to get out of this situation with Sesshoumaru still thinking he was a girl.

Aside from that, he knew that it was considered polite to invite someone in for tea or some shit like that when they did something akin to "walking a defenseless girl home", and despite what most people believed (ie, Kouga, Miroku, and even that bipolar asshole, Sesshoumaru) he HAD been taught manners (despite most of the time severely and purposefully LACKING them) by his mother. After all, whenever she had people walk him home from school when he was younger they'd always be invited in for snacks or tea.

So invite the fucker in for some tea, he would.

But FIRST he needed to check in with Kouga and Miroku. He needed to make sure they'd followed his instructions through and through by now or he'd be up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

He walked outside the school and over to an alleyway that was far enough away to have a bit of privacy but close enough to see if Sesshoumaru came outside looking for him. Dialing Kouga's number, he hopped from one foot to the other anxiously waiting as the phone rang.

And rang.

And _raaannng._

"Where the fuck are you guys?!" he glowered to himself, nearly hitting the wall in front of him in frustration when it switched to voicemail.

_Shit, shit, shit!_

He opened his mouth, ready to leave a few offensive oaths the moment the "beep!" sounded before he promptly shut it as he felt a shadow fall over him from behind.

He turned around and nearly groaned in aggravation.

_Fuck. I so don't need to deal with THIS on top of everything else._

"What do you want," he said, snapping his phone shut and sending the newcomer a die-as-fast-as-you-can-kthx-glare.

Takehiro merely grinned as he walked forward toward the dark-haired hanyou.

* * *

><p>As he made his way to Aiko Inuzumi's locker, Sesshoumaru's eye twitched as the girl at his side continued to drone on.<p>

"If I had the chance to be on the Hollywood Whore music video set like that stupid wretch the paper's talked about... I would be all over Takahashi Inuyasha-sama! To the point that security was called. And I was removed from the set. And slapped silly with restraining orders left and right. Mmmhm. I do like to be spank-"

"That'll be enough, Onigumo-san," Sesshoumaru growled as politely and as quickly as he could. "I have a prior engagement this afternoon. I'll see you tomorrow."

Kagura blinked at his quick departure before he was down the hall and around the corner out of sight.

Sesshoumaru came upon the junior's lockers then with no sign of Aiko Inuzumi whatsoever. His brow creased as he looked around at the otherwise empty area. _Perhaps she went to wait outside?_ he thought as he made his way out the front doors.

* * *

><p>Takehiro walked forward, eyes coolly staring the hanyou girl down, each step causing her to take one in retreat as she stared right back at him suspiciously.<p>

"Ever since you came to our school, you've ruined what little peace we ever had, half-breed," Takehiro said, cracking a grin suddenly as he noticed something.

Aiko Inuzumi's brows furrowed, confused for a moment before widening as one of her heels hit something solid behind her.

Takehiro grinned again; she was stuck. He nearly laughed aloud as her face contorted, her thoughts clear as day: _Fuck_.

He shot forward, pushing the girl up against the wall.

* * *

><p>Inuyasha's head knocked against the wall as Takehiro nearly barreled into him. It wasn't until a few seconds after his ears stopped ringing that he realized his wrists were caught in the taller boy's hands and firmly planted against the wall behind him.<p>

_What the-?_

"Get the hell off me, jackass!" he yelled out in his softer voice, though nonetheless insulting.

The boy merely looked down at him, eyes flickering this way and that about his face before he leaned forward. His cheek slid against Inuyasha's and for a brief moment the half-demon thought he was being SNIFFED.

"Hmm," the boy inhaled. "You have such an interesting scent up close, half-breed."

_Okay, now I'm officially creeped out,_ Inuyasha thought.

Takehiro leaned back, face still all up in Inuyasha's business, as the other tried melting into the wall as much as he could.

"I suppose with what I'm about to say I shouldn't be calling you half-breed, should I?" he said, a strange light coming into the boy's eyes as he maneuvered Inuyasha's wrists into one hand, freeing the other to do as it pleased.

Like caress his fucking face! _What the fuck!_ Inuyasha shrieked in his head, too shocked to move and do more than shiver in revulsion.

"I'm glad my friend refused to come with and confront you. Otherwise I'd never have had this chance..." the boy- that Inuyasha was now certain was way more bipolar than Sesshoumaru, and quite possibly had multiple personality disorder- said lowly, face lowering to his. "May I call you Aiko-chan?"

Inuyasha's eyes blazed. _OH HELL N-_

A cry was heard next as Takehiro's grip on the dark-haired half-demon was pulled away.

Inuyasha's eyes widened again in surprise as he realized the sound came from Takehiro himself. He looked up, his focus narrowing in on the new arrival.

Sesshoumaru stood there, eyes angrier than he'd ever seen them before, as he stared down at Takehiro hard. He held the shorter male by the forearm, forcing both the arm and the boy in his grasp to bend backwards to keep the limb from snapping.

"Takehiro, I thought I'd made it clear to refrain from putting your hands on someone without their permission," the demon said lowly.

Inuyasha blinked before he fully came back to reality.

* * *

><p>"YOU ASSHOLE!" Aiko Inuzumi yelled out before dive bombing on the boy in Sesshoumaru's hands, easily grabbing Takehiro's arm out of his grasp as she proceeded to...- how could he say this in a way that was the most accurate...- beat the ever living <em>shit<em> out of him.

Sesshoumaru could only stare in rapt attention, partly in surprise, horror and morbid approval.

It lasted no more than a few minutes before she gave a final kick and told him to "Fuck off", and that if he ever came near her again like he just had she'd... "find creative outlets to shove his dick into and wait until it fell off" (Sesshoumaru edited that last bit in his mind because otherwise he'd be nauseous as well at the mere thought).

She turned her nose up at the crumpled mess Takehiro made upon the ground and began walking out of the alleyway toward her home. As she passed the still shell-shocked demon, she said, "If you're walking me home, we leave now, otherwise you can fuck off, too."

And with that she exited the vicinity, Sesshoumaru, too dumbstruck to protest and too prideful to back out of his earlier declaration, following (despite being somewhat concerned with the mood she was in and keeping his own man bits intact).

The walk to her house was quick and silent, neither bringing up what had just happened, though admittedly the demon was curious as to what had actually occurred. He'd been lucky earlier when he'd noticed Takehiro walk into the alleyway, pausing and speaking to some unseen person. He'd guessed right of who the boy had been addressing when he'd found him holding Aiko Inuzumi up against the wall. However, at that point, all he could do was focus on his anger and how the boy apparently didn't heed his multiple warnings from before.

"We're here," a voice announced suddenly, bringing Sesshoumaru out of his thoughts. He looked up at the building in mild surprise; it was a nicer side of town than he'd imagined she lived in, and the building itself was newer than most around the area. Apparently there was wealth in her family if she was residing in a place like this. "Would... you... uh, like to come up for some tea?" she said, one foot lifted to walk up the stairs.

The demon hadn't even thought of entering her home, let alone having tea with her, but he supposed he still... owed her a reason for walking her home (despite the fact that it had almost been for naught). Not only that but it was considered rude to decline such an invitation, he reasoned.

"Very well," he nodded and followed the stiffly walking girl up to her level.

"Uh, I haven't... really cleaned... so it might be messy... or strange... looking..." she said uncertainly as she opened her door, letting him walk in first. She followed, turning the light on.

And both froze at the sight before them.

Sesshoumaru let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as he blinked at all the (rather obsessive) Hollywood Whore memorabilia that surrounded them.

It was like one giant love shrine to the band as he looked around, and the demon couldn't help but wonder where some of it came from; he'd never seen that black and white poster of Takahashi Inuyasha-sama with his guitar, nor the water bottles with the band's logo, or the-

And then his sight landed on it, eyes widening considerably in awe.

A life-sized, cardboard cutout of Takahashi Inuyasha-sama himself. An item he'd never had the mettle to procure himself.

He hadn't realized he'd been slowly drifting toward it until a hand punched firmly through Takahashi Inuyasha-sama's cardboard head.

Sesshoumaru felt his heart drop at the abuse the most sought after memorabilia took, taking great pains to not act irrationally and drop kick the hanyou girl right then and there.

"_Those fucking assholes_..." came her dangerous voice.

Sesshoumaru had the good grace to look unconcerned as he took a step back out of her immediate kicking range and glanced over at her for clarification. Had she been robbed or something?

"Kouga and Miroku... _were_ here then..." she said with controlled rage.

The demon stiffened. Did that mean that-

Aiko Inuzumi stared at him before her eyes widened as if she knew where his thoughts were heading. "Which... means that stupid bastard... Inuyasha... was, too... Damnit, they always do shit like this!" she yelled out angrily as she tore down the black and white poster and shoved it into a trash bag that appeared out of nowhere, along with the rest of the Whore memorabilia littering the vicinity.

Sesshoumaru looked elsewhere, unsure if he could stomach the blatant mutilation of each item as it passed from her hands and into the black bag of death before she stomped on it for added measure.

She then dragged what looked like a dead body to her closed off kitchenette and threw it in carelessly, seeming to do a double take and turn white as a sheet before taking care to shut the kitchen up again. She walked over to the tea table and took a seat, taking deep breaths to possibly calm herself.

Sesshoumaru merely stared at her for a moment, before sighing and walking toward the kitchenette.

"W-Where are you going!?" she blurted suddenly, jumping up and running over to cut him off as his fingers pressed against the kitchen door.

He closed his eyes in irritation and took a breath himself. "Since you seem to be preoccupied, I thought I'd make the tea," he said, making once more to go into the kitchen before he was bodily pushed away.

"IT'S FINE! I'LL GET IT," she yelled out, a frantic look passing over her features.

"I can easily make a pot of tea. Just tell me where the-" he began, trying to move around her again. His reflexes saved him from a near gut-check.

"You can't!" she said again, plastering herself to the doorframe dividing entryway and kitchen. "The..." she paused, looking around momentarily before zeroing in on him again with determination. "The toilet overflowed and I'm on my... period..."

Sesshoumaru's face went as blank as a sheet. He was fairly sure the sound of a creaking door could be heard in the distance as he turned around to take a seat at the table with no further comments.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end.<em>


	10. Gossip Girl

**Chapter 10: Gossip Girl**

_Oh thank fucking GOD, crisis averted_, Inuyasha thought as he nearly collapsed right then and there the moment Sesshoumaru went to take a seat without further rebuttal.

There was no way he could allow the demon to go into the kitchen, it was apparently the place his now ex-best friends had stashed all his "horribly obvious, I'm Inuyasha Takahashi!" stuff, like his guitar that was more or less as famous and well-known as he was.

"I'll just... be in here... making tea... Uh, any preference, or-?" Inuyasha said as he slipped into the kitchen, trying his best to keep his feminine voice from wavering.

"Whatever you have will be fine," came a tight reply.

Inuyasha winced. Well, he deserved that; any sane guy would be put off and or weirded out if a girl just shouted they got their girl... habits all over the floor. He paused as he reached for the green tea, part of him- his rather devious side- wanting to select the raspberry honey tea instead just to see the look of revulsion and utter panic that might cross the usually emotionless face of the demon at the sight of red- Yeah, never mind, he wasn't gonna go there.

He began preparing the green tea, catching only the tail end of what the demon said from the other room.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I said, what brought you to Japan?" the demon reiterated.

Inuyasha fumbled with the tea, chewing on his answer for a moment before figuring there wasn't much harm in answering truthfully.

"I'm... looking for my birth father."

"Oh?"

"Yeah..."

Silence.

A cough. "I assume by your statement that you've yet to locate him then."

"Yeah, so far, no luck."

"If you tell me his name, I could probably look him up for you," the demon offered.

Inuyasha smiled to himself at the rather out of character offer Sesshoumaru made.

"Wish it were that easy. But my mother refuses to tell me. Actually, she doesn't..." Okay, he had to word this carefully... "know I'm in this area of Japan. She's sick... dying actually from cancer... I just... wanted to find my father so I could tell him..."

"Did they divorce?"

"No, he... doesn't actually know I exist."

"I don't mean to be rude, but what do you expect to accomplish then?"

Inuyasha paused in stirring the tea.

"I don't... I'm not entirely sure, I guess. I just know my mom never married, and never _wanted_ to marry a man that wasn't him. But she couldn't for whatever reason," Inuyasha said. "I don't expect him to claim me as his son and we live happily ever after... I just want him to know what she's going through... maybe visit her before..." he stopped there, not wanting to go into much more detail about his personal life for fear he himself wasn't ready to acknowledge it all.

"I see," Sesshoumaru said from beyond the kitchen. Inuyasha finished the tea and joined the youkai at the table. "Arigatou," the demon bowed his head as he accepted the cup and drank languidly. "So you don't know your birth father's name but know he's in this part of the country?"

Inuyasha poured his tea, answering simultaneously, "I... well, this is kind of crazy, but my mother told me he was a teacher... in this area, and that's about all I know. Whether he's still a teacher here or not..."

Sesshoumaru nodded in understanding. "It's a good place to start at the very least."

"Yeah..." the half-demon said softly, trailing off as he looked at his muddled reflection in the tea.

A few moments of silence passed before Sesshoumaru spoke up again.

"So, your... friends... do things like this often?"

Inuyasha snapped back to the present as he looked over at the demon curiously before understanding what he was asking. "Kouga and Miroku? All the time. Though I guess Inuyasha does it just as often in retaliation." _And oh, how I'll get retribution for this_, he thought additionally.

"Ah. So they're still in Edopolis?"

"Mhm, will be for a while. Next single's music video was shot here, plus I think they're just taking time off and being lazy assholes like usual," he glowered as he blew bubbles in his tea.

"I had heard rumors about that, but wasn't sure how much credence I should give to them. What's the single?"

"It's called 'Just to Get High'**(1)**."

Sesshoumaru nodded, sipping at his tea again. "The papers have been in a frenzy lately due to the girl they caught coming out of Takahashi Inuyasha-sama's dressing room on that set," the demon said carefully behind his cup, eyes intently watching the dark-haired girl across from him.

Inuyasha stuttered in thought. Shit, that'd gotten out? He nearly facepalmed himself right then and there just recalling the event:

It'd been the last day of filming their new music video, and he'd made the unintelligent mistake of changing back into "Aiko Inuzumi" in his dressing room after the majority of the staff on hand had gone home. Thankfully though when he'd left his trailer he'd been headed the opposite way the paparazzi had been hanging about so they'd only gotten a side to back profile of him as a girl.

But the second they started clicking their fucking cameras- flashes popping up here and there in his vision then- Inuyasha had been on "HIGH TERROR ALERT!" and had jumped into the black SUV Kouga and Miroku had been waiting for him in. He'd told his friends then what had just happened and before anyone knew it, Kouga had flown out after the vultures, calling security to haul their asses off the perimeter before any of them could see that Inuyasha Takahashi wouldn't ever be leaving his dressing room.

Inuyasha came back to the conversation at hand. "Yeah, I... uh... I was visiting the guys on set that day," he lied, looking down at his lap as he absently played with his hair like some fucking girl. Damnit, this guise was really starting to fuck with his mind to the point it'd developed its own nervous habits!

Brushing his hair out of his eyes and over his shoulder, Inuyasha didn't notice Sesshoumaru zeroing in on something around his neck.

* * *

><p>Sesshoumaru couldn't believe it when he saw it, but upon critical inspection there it was all the same.<p>

"What?" Aiko Inuzumi asked.

"Isn't… that the same necklace Utami Kikyou-sama... has?"

The girl's thoughts seemed to be off somewhere else but she replied all the same, albeit absently as she fingered the necklace. "HAD rather."

Sesshoumaru could only stare in silent horror at what that answer could possibly entail. After all, it was a long standing rumor that the necklace Utami Kikyou wore had been given to her as an anniversary present by Takahashi Inuyasha. A necklace the whole fanbase of either Dead Corpse Repeat and or Hollywood Whore had noticed was now currently missing after their break up.

So what did it mean then that Aiko Inuzumi now had a necklace that resembled- if it wasn't actually- the original?

Were... Aiko Inuzumi and Takahashi Inuyasha-sama... involved romantically? Sesshoumaru tripped over himself mentally as his usual pristine posture crumbled and he slumped back against the wall behind him. He wasn't sure how to handle this possibility...

Aiko Inuzumi was not only volatile, highly unpredictable and quite possibly the most dangerous and crass woman he'd ever met, but she was also- nearly- the complete opposite of how he viewed Utami Kikyou. Granted, while he'd never met the pianist from DCR, he'd seen enough live footage of her to gauge her personality down to quiet, cold, calculating and vengeful.

And upon those thoughts he rather wondered what kind of taste Takahashi Inuyasha had in his partners if he dated Utami Kikyou (who was by all means was comparable to a stealth assassin) and- though unconfirmed but even more probable with the current evidence at hand- Aiko Inuzumi, who was obviously- if not descended from- some kind of Amazonian feral cat.

All he could do was deduce that his Hollywood Whore icon liked crazy American women. Which, to him, was quite possibly a sign of insanity. Or torture. Possibly the hanyou was a masochist?

The demon's thoughts came to an abrupt halt there as his mind chewed on that single thought for a long while before his belly warmed with the possibilities of-

And he quickly squashed it by turning his attention to the girl still fidgeting angrily across the room, still talking about the relationship that had ended between Utami Kikyou and Takahashi Inuyasha-sama.

"...it got kinda serious near the end from what I know, but things sorta teetered after that. Before I realized it we- Err, they decided they were better friends and not the marrying, kid-producing kind, and that..."

Sesshoumaru's attention snapped over to the girl pouring more tea.

"I'm sorry?" he nearly choked. Marriage? They had thought about- He choked again.

"What?"

"Marria-" He couldn't even finish that thought, and instead took a long drink of his tea.

"Marriage? What are you- OH. Oh, hell no! That was never in the cards for u- err, them. Shit man, don't scare me like that!" the girl started laughing.

Sesshoumaru frowned, not liking the idea at all either. "Are you two... together, then?"

Aiko Inuzumi looked over at him, mirth lining her eyes as she opened her mouth.

* * *

><p>"What? You jealous or something?" Inuyasha said, laughing at his own wit. His laugh slowly faded as a thought suddenly occurred to him, his eyes widening at his own ignorance.<p>

Shit. As far as his girl disguise was concerned, "she" didn't know Sesshoumaru was a FAN at all... so him being all familiar and okay with it was totally out of character! Damnit, no wonder Sesshoumaru kept having near panic attacks at all the things he'd been saying! Fuck! Okay, okay, he could totally salvage the situation... Maybe.

"Heh, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were a fan asking all these questions," he nearly choked, wincing at how bad his acting was becoming when cornered.

At the demon's silence Inuyasha fake spit out the tea he'd been sipping. "Oh my god, you ARE a fan, aren't you! You probably have a love shrine or something in your closet! That's how you know all about-" he stopped abruptly as he took in the blush Sesshoumaru's face held... and then put that together with his last question. _"Are you two... together?"_

_Holy shit_, was the only thought that passed through his mind, all acting thrown out the window, as he freaked out about his most recent revelation.

"OH HELL, YOU _ARE_ JEALOUS!"

Sesshoumaru had a CRUSH on him?!

_He... had to be dreaming, this... Was he... What the hell was going on?! _Inuyasha thought.

"W-What... You don't mean... you... So you have a THING for ME- Iiiii mean, _MEN?!_" he stuttered out, white as a ghost, eyes bulging.

Sesshoumaru looked away, a light blush stretching from one ear to the other as he gave a short, curt nod.

"Whoa, whoa, wait. You... YOU want to sleep with him, too?!" Inuyasha guffawed, completely beside himself in the weirdness of it all. First Takehiro hits on him and now Sesshoumaru?! Well, okay, so Sesshoumaru was interested in his MAN self and Takehiro apparently had a thing for his GIRL self but still!

All he could form in reply to either notion was: "_Sweet baby Jesus..._"

Sesshoumaru's face turned forlorn then, going absolutely silent to the point that Inuyasha wasn't even sure he was breathing anymore. Needless to say the abruptness of the mood change slapped Inuyasha back on track.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked as he waved a hand in front of the demon's shadowed face. The demon looked up, piercing golden eyes freezing Inuyasha in place, hand suddenly immobile in mid air. "W-what?"

"Is it so strange… a male... wanting him like that? Are Americans so close-minded to such things? I thought he'd even mentioned that he'd had relations with one of his band mates..."

"No, that's not it..." Inuyasha answers carefully. "I mean, as far as I know... he's only been with girls... but he… uh…did mention (_How fucking weird is this?!_ he thought) sorta experimenting-"

"With one of his band mates, I know," Sesshoumaru supplied quickly, taking a drink of his tea, still not really liking the fact that he still had no idea which-

"with Kouga, so-"

Sesshoumaru spit out the tea, choking as he dropped the cup.

"Shit! Hey! You okay? Here," the hanyou asked, handing him a napkin.

Coughing subsiding, the demon nodded. _Mikuni Kouga? That..._ the demon growled lowly to himself. "So he's... slept with Mikuni Kouga... –sama," he had to force himself to add that. Impassioned, the demon focused on cleaning up the mess he'd made while avoiding eye contact with the girl in front of him, forging ahead and asking, "Have you two ever..."

Inuyasha blinked at the youkai. Wow, he was either a lot more comfortable with his girl guise or he was just that into his guy self that he'd relinquish all pride to ask that so directly... Inuyasha sighed. He could understand that, he supposed; the whole trudging ahead and damning all in your way to get to an answer... And in this case, the guy was just wanting to know if he stood a chance with… well, himself...

With that thought in mind he thought he'd throw the poor guy a bone, but not before he had a bit of fun himself.

Inuyasha thought for a devious moment before answering, _I wonder if jerking off counts as doing it with myself...?_

"NO!" he answered himself aloud, unintentionally.

The demon stared over at him suspiciously. "You deny that too much..."

Inuyasha grinned to himself. "What? Like you don't want to fuck him, too."

"Too?" Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow.

"Like all those annoying girls at school," he said nonchalantly.

"So that doesn't include you?" a hopeful light entered the demon's expression then.

"Well, been there already," he grinned. _Oh, this is going to be so much fun_, he thought as he laughed at the perturbed expression the demon now held.

So. Much. Fun.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end.<em>

Author's Note: How I see Kikyou in this fic... Well, in my mind, she rather resembles Rin from Fruits Baskets xD Also, **(1)** Just to Get High is a song by Nickelback. Again, I totally imagine Kouga singing it and Inuyasha doing the totally awesome guitar solo! But this will be "seen" more in another chapter.


	11. Going Down in Flames

**Chapter 11: Going Down in Flames**

Inuyasha hiccupped as he finished his sake. "Another," he demanded.

"So it wasn't awkward or anything then?" Miroku Houshi asked leaning against Inuyasha's apartment wall as he yawned.

The hanyou spared Miroku a look as he took another drink. His friends had come over to his apartment to help put it back together (actually Inuyasha had thrown a tantrum, saying that if they didn't fix the mess they'd made he'd quit the band) once Sesshoumaru had left. Now done with the work, they sat on his floor drinking plum sake that Kouga and Miroku had jacked form their hotel room as he recounted his time with the inuyoukai.

"Overall, no, it wasn't awkward. Did find out he has the hots for me though," Inuyasha said slowly, not sure how his friends would take the rather startling news.

"About time you figured it out," Kouga Mikuni guffawed from his side.

"Yeah," Miroku agreed, nodding as he poked around Inuyasha's belongings.

"What do you mean 'about time'?!" Inuyasha grouched, hiccupping again as he swayed in his seat.

"Just that we knew he had a thing for you ever since we first ran into him at that press conference. It was painfully obvious," Miroku said simply, snorting about it with Kouga.

"You fuckers! You coulda told me!" the half-demon yelled launching a pillow assault on his friends before giving up and flinging himself backwards to lie down and stare at the ceiling as the world started spinning.

"Anyway, we have a concert to do Saturday, we expect you to be there," Kouga mentioned offhandedly then.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Just like them to spring it on him the last minute. "I can't go you know, I've got school-"

Kouga growled, slamming his drink down. "Fuck school! You haven't found your dad yet, one day off's not gonna kill you or your search."

"Tch, says you. And I'm still not going-"

"Why don't you bring Sesshoumaru? Or invite him as..." Miroku trailed off as he watched the hanyou sit up and take another shot. "Seriously, Inuyasha, slow down. If your mom knew you were drinking… you'd be dead ten times over by now," the drummer said, violet eyes flickering to Inuyasha's side and darting back again.

At Miroku's words, Inuyasha froze, pushing the sake just handed to him as far away as possible before his eyes followed his friend's line of sight. A picture of his mother was smiling at him. He gulped as he slowly tipped the frame face down upon the table before turning his attention back to his friends. "Anyway, I can't bring... _hiccup_… him! I told you already, he has the HOTS for me. Not only that but he knows 'Aiko Inuzumi' knows this, not me!"

"Mm, true enough. It would be out of nowhere if Inuyasha suddenly invited Sesshoumaru to the concert as himself, regardless that he's already made the distinction that he and 'Aiko' are acquaintances," Miroku rationalized, rubbing his chin.

"SEE! Exactly. Thank you," Inuyasha yelled out in relief.

Kouga rolled his eyes, clipping the hanyou behind the head as he turned to Miroku. "That's enough reason for him to invite Sesshoumaru as himself. I mean, the guy would probably think he was doing it because of the... 'relationship' he's in with inukoro's girl self."

"We don't have a relationship!" Inuyasha hissed. "He just sorta tolerates me now. Probably because I'm friends with… myself," the half-demon said, brows creasing at how confusing this whole thing was becoming... especially now that there were two Kouga's... whoa...

"Please," Kouga exasperated, making a face. "You'd have a 'In Relationship' status with him if you had a MyPage account."

Inuyasha's ears plastered to his head as he glared at the ookami. "No, we'd have a 'It's Complicated and Really Fucking Messed Up, But That's NOT the Point Because There Is No Relationship!' status."

"Then what IS the point, inukoro, because as far as I can see you're just making up excuses to get out of going. Just invite the guy, pick him up on your way and we can all hang out backstage after."

"I can't hang out with him as myself! He'll think it's a MAN DATE! And then he'll wanna have MAN DINNER and then go back to my place to make MAN LOVE! I'm not ready for that! I barely know the guy, let alone if I even see him as dating material!" he said desperately, waving his hands around in the air as he swayed back and forth in his sitting position. He continued his rant. "-And then he'll wanna become BOYFRIENDS and move in together and do whatever it is boyfriends do and-"

"Whoa, whoa, slow DOWN, inukoro! So he likes you, so _what?_"

"So WHAT?! What do you mean so WHAT, he-!"

"You don't think he's hot? Hell, he's not my type at all and I think he's hot. What about you?" the ookami nodded over at Miroku.

"Mhm, I'd hit that," he said offhandedly as he flipped through a magazine he found in the back of the hanyou's closet.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Stop going through my stuff, asshole!" the hanyou grumped at Miroku.

Geez, fat lot of help they were. Weren't friends supposed to _empathize_ with him in situations like these?

"See, we'd both do him, what've you got against a body like that?" Kouga sighed, shaking his head.

Inuyasha glared hard as he whisper-hissed between clenched teeth, "_I'd climb him like a fucking tree_, but that's not the problem here!"

Kouga sighed heavily, willing himself to not strangle his friend. "Inukoro. I think going around cosplaying as a girl is starting to kill your brain cells... Look, you can either bring him along as your date-"

"I don't know him like that when I'm ME!"

Kouga and Miroku both blinked, confused. "...Damnit, inukoro, now you're confusing me!" the ookami yelled.

"Look, I can't ask him to come as myself! It'd be out of NOWHERE! And then-"

"For fuck's sake. FINE. Then... come as your girl self," Kouga said slowly, the wheels in his head turning as he started to grin.

Inuyasha's mouth snapped shut as a look of 'I can't brain today I have the dumb' crossed his face. "...Come again?"

Kouga shrugged, leaning back and stretching his arms behind his neck. "Might as well, the Media already knows you're MIA for some reason here in Japan, so they don't expect you to be there. Besides, Miroku and I already set up the couple songs we were going to perform; we can easily get one of the backup guitarists to play your part."

Miroku perked up. "Not to mention, the more Inuzumi makes a connection with us when with him, the more he'll have a connection to us, and thus, to _you_... Uh, the real BOY you. Then you can do more stuff as yourself with him, maybe become friends, mess around-"

Miroku sputtered as Inuyasha smacked him upside the head. "Fucking pervert. You think about this shit too much. And in any case...I still refuse."

Kouga's smile turned dark and sinister. "Oh, you'll do it. Or I'll show up at your school tomorrow and rat your ass out!"

"You fucker," he said aghast. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Oh, I dare. And we all know how things turn out when you DARE me, inukoro," the wolf threatened.

Inuyasha continued locked in a heated staring contest with his friend before he broke the silence in defeat, knowing how things would turn out if he even tried refusing again.

"I really hate both of you," he said in angrily, hobbling over to his bed. "Now get the fuck out!"

Kouga and Miroku snickered, high fiving one another as they donned their old geezer disguises before leaving.

* * *

><p>Sesshoumaru yawed as he walked into the school building the next day, wondering idly if Aiko Inuzumi was here already. Considering the time it was he doubted it, surprised himself that he was even here this early, what with the fitful sleep he'd had last night after returning home from the girl's house.<p>

And he meant "fitful sleep" in all respects. And all thanks to what he'd done while waiting for the girl to finish making tea... He cringed at the memory as it flooded his thoughts once more.

"_I said, what brought you to Japan?" Sesshoumaru asked nonchalantly as he looked around the now Hollywood Whoreless apartment dejectedly. _

"_I'm... looking for my birth father," the girl said hesitantly.  
><em>

"_Oh?"  
><em>

"_Yeah..."  
><em>

_That's the moment he saw... it. _

_There, sitting as inconspicuously as it could be, was a Polaroid someone close to the Hollywood Whore rockstar must have taken... especially for the hanyou to be smiling so... genuinely like that..._

_Before he even thought about what he was doing- long before he consciously granted himself permission to fall so low- the demon leaned over from his sitting position, strewn across the carpet as he stretched for the picture lying beneath the bedside table._

_He coughed suddenly, remembering they'd been having a conversation about... what? Her... father? "I assume by your statement that you've yet to locate him then," he said, still trying to move his body as little as possible lest he make a sound that would otherwise alert the girl to what he was doing._

"_Yeah, so far, no luck."  
><em>

"_If you tell me his name, I could probably look him up for you," the demon said, hoping to offer some form assistance if it kept her from coming out of that kitchen anytime soon._

_If he were to be honest at this point, he'd stopped fully listening... too hard-pressed to get that damn picture into his grasp. It was a stupid thing to do but he went into autopilot where answering the hanyou's statements was concerned, banking mostly on luck at this point. Though he'd done it enough when his mother would nag that he was surely a black belt in bullshitting his way out of things by now.  
><em>

"_Did they divorce?"  
><em>

"_No, he... doesn't actually know I exist."  
><em>

"_I don't mean to be rude, but what do you expect to accomplish then?"  
><em>

"_I don't... I'm not entirely sure, I guess. I just know my mom never married, and never wanted to marry a man that wasn't him. But she..." the girl continued to drone on until she trailed off.  
><em>

"_I see," Sesshoumaru said, nearly sweating as he finally managed to snag the picture from under the table and snap into his seated position the moment Aiko Inuzumi walked into the room with the tea, not at all sure what he had told her he understood but hoping it was the right answer all the same._

_As she poured the drink he slipped the memorabilia- or maybe it was a personal photo that belonged to Aiko Inuzumi?- into his pocket._

_He shook his head at that idea, feigning cooling his tea before sipping it. He'd have to believe it was memorabilia and that it's very existence was in danger of the girl destroying it like she did everything else that'd been present when they first arrived to the apartment, or stealing it wouldn't sit well with him at all. _

_So "memorabilia" it was._

_If that moment hadn't been embarrassing enough, later that night once the demon was home and had settled on his bed he took the candid picture out of his pocket and set it down, a rush of butterflies filling his stomach at the sight of the smiling figure it featured. Absently he pulled out a box that held other random things he'd collected over the years and set them up as well on a nearby table. It took him a moment before he was winded with one very concerning thought:_

I just made a Takahashi Inuyasha-sama love shrine! _Before he promptly pushed all of the memorabilia he'd saved over the years back into its container and shoved it fiercely under his bed red-faced. The hell he was going to have one of those depraved... shrines! Only the crazed females did things like that after all._

_He sighed as he fell back onto his futon and looked over at the picture he'd intentionally left out._

"_I can't believe I've stooped this low..." he said to himself as he turned off the light and fell asleep with a headache._

Sesshoumaru shuddered, eyes refocusing from the events that occurred the night before, chills rolling over his body as he turned into his classroom and took a seat with a defeated sigh. He wondered idly if the trepidation of what he'd done would ever leave him...

A loud CRACK shot through the room then as someone dropped their books rather harshly onto their desk, making Sesshoumaru involuntarily jump. He threw a glare over at Takehiro on the other side of the room, the underclassman glaring right back at him bravely.

Sesshoumaru's brows pinched at the rather hostile look the other held. _What's his problem? _he thought as he turned back to his open text, gazing at it sightlessly as the rest of the class poured into the room.

A cough sounded in the background as he turned to gaze out into the school yard, relenting to the fact that his anxiousness probably wouldn't leave him as long as he felt guilty about stealing the photo. And in the end there wasn't much he could really even do to rectify it. Even if he were to somehow be invited back to Aiko Inuzumi's home... would he even be able to part with the picture?

The image of Takahashi Inuyasha-sama's earnest smile came to mind then and he had his answer.

The coughing in the background increased to a throaty, hacking scratch before the demon was poked in the back with the end of a book. Hard.

Sesshoumaru blinked before growling, throwing a narrowed gaze at the person behind him before it promptly morphed into surprise.

There behind him was none other than a red-faced Aiko Inuzumi.

"What?" he asked as she seemed to still want his attention despite looking away, expression rather put off.

"They're... having some kind of event... Saturday... at Edo Opera House... and... I was wondering if..." she mumbled lowly before trailing off awkwardly as she noticed the demon staring at her, waiting for a coherent sentence.

"I don't have all day, Aiko...-san," Sesshoumaru said, trying to hold on to what little patience he had left.

The girl's eyes snapped to him in surprise. Whether it was due to him using an honorific with her last name or the tone he used, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that she colored right up again and looked away as she began muttering almost angrily.

"Y-You see... I got... tickets to it, so..."

"Aiko-san," Sesshoumaru said as he took a breath, hoping she'd somehow clarify. "What are you referring to."

"What the hell do you mean 'what am I –'!" she exploded, a little louder than she'd meant to when she noticed the rest of the class staring over at them. Granted, they weren't staring at them because of her outburst. They were staring because it was Musashi Sesshoumaru and Aiko Inuzumi. Talking. To one another. "Stop listening, you bunch of eavesdroppers!"

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes heavenward before he made to turn around in his seat. Something caught his shoulder and he looked back over at the dark-haired hanyou stubbornly holding him in place. "What."

Aiko-san glared suspiciously at their classmates before leaning in to whisper so low no one but the two of them could decipher her words. "Hollywood Whore. The guys are having a... concert or something at Edo Opera House Saturday. I got tickets... and was... _wondering_ if you were free... by chance..."

Sesshoumaru could only stare, wide-eyed and completely speechless. She wanted to invite him to... after all the things he'd put her through until recently?

"Well?" the girl pressed after a few more moments of awkward silence. Impatiently, she narrowed her eyes. "You got ten seconds to accept or I'm dropping the offer!" she said irritably, sitting back in her seat.

"I-..." he trailed off before nodding in acceptance of the offer, still somewhat taken aback.

"I'll meet you there then at 4pm. Saturday," she said definitively, picking up a book and shoving her face in it.

Sesshoumaru turned back around in his seat, still reeling.

_I might get to see Takahashi Inuyasha-sama again..._

As class started he didn't realize he was smiling to himself.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end.<em>


	12. Edo Opera House

**Chapter 12: Edo Opera House**

_Saturday, 2.30 PM-ish._

Inuyasha swore at himself for the eleventy-billionth time as he paced in front of the mirror like an irritated lion.

What the hell had he been thinking, inviting Sesshoumaru fucking Musashi to an event for Hollywood Whore that he couldn't even show up to as _himself_!? Not only that, but how did he even get conned into going as his femme-fatal self by those two lunatics he called friends?

_Keh_, Inuyasha huffed out angrily as he came to a halt in front of the mirror before crossing his arms and glaring hatefully at the feminine guise before him, her own narrowed gaze flying right back at him just as dissatisfied with this predicament as he was.

Well, it's not like "she" had any choice in the matter, Inuyasha groaned forlornly, looking down at the attire he was going to wear for tonight's Event from Hell, nearly shedding a tear or two of pure frustration.

He'd _thought_ it'd been embarrassing enough just having to _mention_ the nearly "hush-hush" Hollywood Whore affair that was going on tonight nearly a week ago, never mind having to "suggest" they go together. But boy, had he been dead wrong if that was the end of all things embarrassing.

Not only did Kouga and Miroku give him the ultimatum of either coming as his girl!self to further along Sesshoumaru's own ties to the band or suffer by way of Kouga blowing his cover at school, but they'd _also_ made him wear the girly-ass outfit he was currently sporting.

And they had the gall to suggest this had been his entire fault in the first place. Keh.

Inuyasha growled as he adjusted his necklace and picked up his "supply bag" (because he refused to admit he was holding a purse right now), slinging it over his shoulder carelessly.

_After all, that's how men carry their girlfriend's purses without looking like a pussy-whipped idiot, _Inuyasha thought to himself with a satisfied huff. _Hold it like you stole it, guys._

The hanyou continued his grumbly-rant as he slipped on his shoes and made for the door. If he left now, he'd probably be able to get to the venue before most of the crowd- and definitely before Sesshoumaru did (aka "Mr. Tall, Light and Lovely" as Kouga had nicknamed the youkai).

Opening his door and ready to bolt, the half-demon stumbled in his escape as he let out a low oath that would probably make a hardcore gang member blush.

Because there, leaning against the corridor wall across from his apartment was the last person (aside from Kouga and Miroku) that he wanted to see. Especially NOW. When he was supposed to meet the other at the arranged place of... meeting.

An eloquent, "W-what the fuck are you doing here?!" popped out before Inuyasha could rein in the rude greeting. Instead, he threw his well-practiced glare at the impassive demon who merely rose an eyebrow at his,... err, _her_ outburst. Inuyasha glowered and slammed the door shut behind him, snapping the lock in place with a quick movement of key and hand.

The youkai moved languidly, standing up straight as they came face to face. Or rather, in the demon's case, face to narrowed, angry eyes, and easily replied with, "Picking you up" as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Inuyasha had to count to _four_ as he turned away from Sesshoumaru and began walking to Edo Opera House. He'd have counted to ten, but by the time he hit ten he'd have already lost his temper. Four was quicker to get to- especially if he counted by two's.

Discreetly as possible, Inuyasha whisper-hissed at the youkai following him like a shadow. "I said 'meet up'. MEET UP." He took a left and continued down the busy street. "Meet up. As in I leave my place, you leave yours, and we _converge_ at the scheduled place of meeting." A sharp turn right.

Sesshoumaru fell into step easily, loathed though Inuyasha was to admit it, and even maneuvered them a couple times when faced with a group of oncoming people that were hard-pressed to NOT take a step or two to the side in lieu of the irate hanyou coming at them.

"It would be considered impolite, never mind improper, for me to not escort you to a place you've invited me to,... Aiko...-san," the demon replied, frowning still at "Aiko-san's" continued glower.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes as they alternately argue (Inuyasha) and calmly explain (Sesshoumaru) this or that as they continued hiking through the throngs of people on the street, gradually getting closer and closer to their destination.

_Thank God_, the hanyou thought.

One and a half hours later, twenty-thousand-some blocks, fifty-seven million stores, and seventy-three gajillion pedestrian signs later, they arrived at the venue, a line longer than Inuyasha had anticipated already having formed. Around the building... Twice, at least.

They came to a stop at what appeared to be the tail end, and all the half-demon could do was stare. "Well, shit. Stupid fuckers are quick..." Inuyasha grumbled, pushing himself up on his tiptoes to try and see if the swelling mass of fans was moving into the building at all yet.

His inquiry was stepped on and squashed mercilessly as he found that, no, the line was aggravatingly motionless still.

"Why aren't they moving, damnit!" he groused to no one in particular.

"You expect a quick entry?" the demon behind him said low enough for the hanyou to hear but no bystanders to pick up on.

"Duh," Inuyasha said, turning his head to throw another glare at the chivalrous bastard before blinking as he noticed the alleyway to their side. His eyes flickered to the left, then to the right, and then behind, making sure no one was paying them any mind, nor was the crowd growing behind them.

Perfect.

"Com'on," he said, passing the youkai as he started to walk to the mouth of the darkened passage. Before a hand shot out, catching his shoulder and spinning him around.

"Where exactly do you think you're going," Sesshoumaru pressed, eyes narrowed as he seemed to survey the alley.

"We're gonna sneak in the back, duh. Now let me go and we can- Hey!" Inuyasha snapped as the demon pulled him back once more.

"A female? Walking headlong into a dark alley? You're either braver than I expected or simply as foolish as I originally thought," Sesshoumaru said, eying Inuyasha carefully.

Inuyasha's inner alarm system went off (after the initial anger wore off) at the suspicious tone the other held. Damnit all to hel! Okay, so he made a mistake by not acting all meek and shit about just waltzing right into a shadowy, unknown alleyway,... His mind raced for a second before a light bulb turned on (flickering though it was).

"I was just... testing how... chivalrous you actually were, blueblood," the half-demon said mockingly; the term an equivalent of 'half-breed' but said with no malice in his irritated tone.

Okay, he could do this... just act like a meek girl... Easy.

Yeah, right.

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed and he stepped in front of the other with an offended snort. "Don't presume to start on mannerisms now, _little half-breed_," the demon retorted. "Not when you have no legs to stand on regarding them."

Inuyasha snorted in return, noting the fluttering in his stomach at the soft, friendly tone the demon said 'half-breed' with. It was no longer cold and condemning as it once had been.

* * *

><p>She was an odd girl, but that was probably one of her defining and winning features, Sesshoumaru thought absently as he walked ahead.<p>

His brow perked when something sounded further down the alleyway, the tapping light enough that the half-demon hadn't heard it. He came to a full stop as he caught sight of someone he recognized instantly and merely stared at them as they wildly gestured.

What on earth was HE up to?

Sesshoumaru received his answer when a noise, louder and more grating than the first, sounded as the individual kicked a trash bin, causing the girl behind him to bump into his back and grab at his arm.

"W-what was that?" Aiko Inuzumi stuttered, though her tone didn't seem apprehensive in the least as her eyes flew from side to side. Sesshoumaru pulled his arm away and gave her a look as she stared back at him deadpanned. "What's a... girl... gotta do to get a little emotional support around here?" she huffed before looking away awkwardly.

"Indeed," was all he deigned to reply with.

It took only another moment before he grew tired of the person down the alleyway trying to intentionally startle the girl behind him.

"Someone is calling for your attention," he said, taking a step forward before he was caught by the tail of his shirt.

"Are you kidding me?" Aiko Inuzumi hiss-whispered at him. "You hear a voice coming from a dark alleyway and you just wanna waltz right in there like it isn't some killer waiting for you?"

Sesshoumaru sighed, deciding then and there that he had suppressed the feeling building inside of him for long enough since he'd met the girl at her house, finally permitting himself to just give into it: He rolled his eyes.

"Hardly, hanyou." And with that the demon maneuvered out of the half-demon's reach, walking past the line of no return surely. At least according to Aiko Inuzumi it would seem.

Sesshoumaru walked a bit down the way, enough, he surmised, to where Aiko-san couldn't see him with the sun at the angle it was and the absence of street lamps. He wasn't sure how well hanyous could see, but it couldn't have been very well at all if he considered how often the girl ran into, fell, or knocked over things in her path. Sesshoumaru chuckled softly to himself as he turned around and watched the female- who was nearly as clear as day to him in the shadows- flounder in the spot he'd left her, mumbling irately, as was typical, to herself yet again.

"You have got to be shitting me... This is like a B-rated slasher movie... Any minute the killer's going to jump you- or ME- and... slit your throat and-"

"Good God, Inuk-kukuku... uh, Inuzumi-_chaaaan_, you're definitely watching way too many horror movies!" Mikuni Kouga's voice finally sounded as he walked past Sesshoumaru and right up to the half-demon, only to dodge a sharp movement of claws. "Easy there, Girl-kun, I was just playing around with ya, I know you like it like that," the ookami snickered.

Sesshoumaru didn't see the humor in it at all, despite frowning in consideration of the nickname "Girl-kun" Aiko-san had apparently been given.

"'G-girl-kun?!'" the female almost yelled, before a tanned hand wrapped over her mouth silencing her outburst. Mikuni Kouga's other hand slipped around her waist, holding her in place as she tried her best to glare at him from her position.

"Shhhhh, you wanna alert the fans?" he grinned at the girl woofishly.

Sesshoumaru's brows furrowed. He had never liked the way the wolf looked at anyone with that toothy grin. Especially Takahashi Inuyasha-sama. He supposed he didn't like it when the ookami gave Aiko Inuzumi that look either because of the hesitant... peace treaty... they'd developed.

Surely _not_ because he considered her a _friend_.

Aiko-san continued to glare even though her limbs went relatively limp in the wolf's grip as he continued on speaking.

"Yeah, didn't think so," Mikuni Kouga snorted. "Anyway, follow me and I'll get you guys in through the backstage area. Then you can take another door to the main room. We'd have you in the back with us, but that would show _favoritism_. And you know how _Inuyasha_ is always _bugging_ us about that; either all the fans get a sneak peek, or none do. So..."

Aiko Inuzumi seemed incensed by that and began struggling anew as Mikuni Kouga made to pick her up bridal style.

Before a hand landed on the wolf's shoulder.

"She can walk from here," Sesshoumaru found himself saying, his tone unrelenting. "There's no need to embarrass her further."

The ookami blinked at him for a moment before he pressed his lips together in what _looked_ like a vain attempt to subdue a smirk...

Regardless, the rockstar nodded in agreement and let Aiko Inuzumi go, taking the lead down the alleyway to the back entrance, Sesshoumaru not missing the sly wink he sent over his shoulder in his wake.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end.<em>

**Credits-  
><strong>_Eleventy-billionth_, courtesy of Kayt and her funnies as usual.  
><em>Hold it like you stole it<em>, courtesy of my boyfriend, because that's his explanation of why he holds my purse the way he does.


	13. What's Next?

**Chapter 13: What's Next?**

Sesshoumaru had been somewhat preoccupied when the drummer of Hollywood Whore, Houshi Miroku-san, had zipped over to them upon their entrance from the alley, immediately bombarding him with nearly unintelligible rambling.

It took him a moment to realize he'd been pulled away from Aiko Inuzumi and Mikuni Kouga, but when he did he'd glanced over to them, and then around the room for one of two purposes: find an escape route and or see if he could locate Takahashi Inuyasha-sama. He didn't bother holding onto hope that Aiko Inuzumi would step in and help, nor was he about to somehow disrespect the famous musician currently poking at his chest, asking how "cut" he was for some reason, despite wanting to.

He sent another look over to Aiko-san, noting her ire as she conversed quietly with the ookami who chuckled at her, sitting a bit closer than was considered polite, in this part of the world- and even for foreigners visiting- to engage in.

"Inuyasha's not coming by the way," Kouga called over to them the next moment, as if directing his statement directly at Sesshoumaru himself. The demon blinked, surely they didn't know about that... He tried suppressing the warmth that was rising to his cheeks.

"Oh, okay, thought he would tonight but whatever. We'll force him next time," Miroku called back to the bassist nonchalantly.

Sesshoumaru let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, not noticing the grin the wolf held.

"He's probably getting laid or something anyway, loads more fun than we're havin- _OW!_"

"You sure gotta filthy mouth on you," Aiko Inuzumi said then, her tone dark as her eyes narrowed.

"Oh, what's this? Little Inuzumi-chan jealous? Don't worry, if you're here then he's probably just reading a library book or something, huh? _OW!_" Kouga said, earning himself another elbow to his ribs.

Sesshoumaru snorted to himself. He'd forgotten how American's usually referred to peers by their first names, so it didn't surprise him that Mikuni Kouga kept referring to their mutual acquaintance by her first name instead of her surname, Aiko.

"Damnit woman, no means no! Ow!" the wolf continued laughing as he poked fun at the half-demon, dodging her rather impressive smacks.

Sesshoumaru bit his lip in consideration then. Well, at least it _seemed_ she hadn't divulged anything to Takahashi-sama's two band mates about his- as Aiko-san had donned it- "man crush".

"Don't worry about Kouga, Sesshoumaru. He's just having fun, he doesn't have much interest in Inuzumi like that," came Houshi-san's voice behind him. Gold eyes turned to regard the odd male and his equally odd statement. "Granted, he IS like the plague; been everywhere and with everyone." Kouga shot Miroku a narrowed gaze from across the room as the dark-haired drummer tapped his chin, eyes heavenward in quiet contemplation. "Or would that be more accurately categorized under an STD and not a plague..."

Sesshoumaru remained silent but gave his agreement in the form of a heavy, "Hn". Not a moment later the drummer was knocked off his feet, having been brained by something the ookami had thrown in his direction.

"I heard that, idiot."

"Didn't try to keep it a secret, you certainly don't- OW!" Houshi Miroku said getting up again and narrowly dodging another makeshift projectile from Mikuni-san.

Houshi-san smirked as the wolf turned back to Aiko Inuzumi, Sesshoumaru noted, relieved that it seemed like the musician would go over to them and talk for a bit...

But then the drummer's violet eyes turned their mischievous gleam on him and he had a feeling his personal space was going to be invaded yet again.

Sesshoumaru sighed as the man approached him.

* * *

><p>His brow twitched at the predicament he was currently in.<p>

Fortunately or unfortunately, Inuyasha had yet to decide which – at the moment it was a close fucking tie- they had succeeded in getting backstage, courtesy of Kouga's backdoor maneuvers (feel free to pun the hell out of that, Inuyasha was).

_Fortunately_, no fans had caught on to their alley rendezvous with Kouga, and _unfortunately_ they now had to deal with what was on the other side of the alley-entry door.

Inuyasha's eye twitched yet again. He'd really hoped to somehow avoid this, among many other situations.

"Wow, you're a lot taller in person-" the dark haired drummer said to Sesshoumaru, poking at this, prodding at that.

"In person?" Sesshoumaru said back. Inuyasha could nearly count how many strings in the demon's body had tightened up at the unwelcomed proximity of an overly-touchy Miroku.

"You'd probably make a good model... You look flexible, are you flexible?"

Kouga tried to rein in his laughter, leaning back in his chair and surveying the scene next to his growling friend. Rolling his eyes at the hanyou, the ookami decided to throw his friend a bone and coughed, determining it'd be best, for the moment, to _appease_ Inuyasha rather than set him off.

"Oi! Miroku, you wanna detach yourself a bit? You're like a fucking second skin for him. Borrow some manners or something and back off," Kouga called.

"Keh! I _knew_ Miroku was gonna be like this, all touchie-grabby and shit," Inuyasha grumbled in Kouga's direction.

The ookami shrugged. "Can't be helped, he's a compassionate lech, very rare among his breed."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, walking over to break up the near panic attack the youkai was sure to go into soon.

"Alright, that's enough, fuck off, ya lecher! Did you not listen to a word I- that _people_ say where the Japanese are concerned?!" the half-demon groused at his friend who merely blinked at him in return. "Keep your distance. For fuck's sake, even married couples barely touch in public, what kind of therapy do you think he's gonna need when you practically assault him, huh?... Great. And now I feel like I'm having déjà vu."

Miroku burst into laughter, Kouga following soon thereafter.

"I don't need saving, hanyou," Sesshoumaru said to him in low, embarrassed tones.

"Yeah, yeah," Inuyasha waved his comment off, focusing his immediate soon-to-be-dead attention on the two "rockstars" in the room. "What!" he demanded of his friends.

"Nothing," Miroku gasped out. "You just… had another 'Inuyasha' moment again, Inuzumi..."

Inuyasha froze, heart stopping at his friend's words, before his brain caught up and realized _what_, and _how_ the drummer had stated that.

"'Inuyasha... moment'?" came Sesshoumaru's voice from the side.

Inuyasha's attention turned from dread to the youkai next to him. _Damn him, why's he sound like an overly excited puppy whose master just said the magical word for going outside ("Potty!"),_ Inuyasha thought randomly.

Before nearly smacking himself in the face, because he so did NOT just compare himself to "shit".

Through gritted teeth and a look that seemed to level some sense into his band mates, Inuyasha answered, "Jerks, just cause I've known him for… so long-"

"Haha, yeah, yeah. You're definitely nothing LIKE inukoro, Inuzumi-chan, cause he's one tough hardass a lot of the time," Kouga joked before turning to the crew people and getting updates on how things were going with setting the stage. Inuyasha didn't miss the azure eyes reflecting his intentions; if he thought this was the only torment that Kouga and Miroku were going to throw at him he was obscenely wrong.

Shit.

"At least being an asshole- at times- seems to work for him where the ladies are involved," Miroku continued with where Kouga had left off.

"Miroku," Inuyasha warned instantly. The bastard had a death wish if he contin-

"I mean, _hell_, people call me a lecher, but I don't even get as many girls throwing themselves at me as he does! Never mind his notches totally outnumber mine," the drummer said, waving his hand in absence.

Oh my god, he was not going to actually bring that up with Sesshoumaru- someone he was possibly interested in- of all people, was he?!

"MIROKU."

"Notches?" Sesshoumaru- the great giant puppy- spoke up, not realizing what he was asking about.

Inuyasha suppressed an oath.

"Notches..." Miroku repeated, hesitating for second, giving Inuyasha hope that he'd steer the conversation in a different direction.

Unfortunately, the drummer had _been_ and _was_ looking everywhere but at Inuyasha, so while the warning signs were coming off "the girl" in heaving droves, the meaning didn't... quite... make it to the violet eyed male. It didn't help matters that Miroku had never been very good at thinking of the consequences that came after he had his "fun time".

Inuyasha still didn't know to this day whether Miroku was a masochist, stupid, or just completely suicidal. The hanyou glowered as the other opened his mouth again to speak, a mischievous glint still in his eyes.

Face-palming himself, the half-demon decided then and there that his friend was a "stupid, suicidal masochist".

"When we were younger we made notches on an old guitar- in different places obviously- of when we got laid," Miroku said in complete honesty. "I personally don't always mark mine, but I think Kouga and Inuyasha are still-"

A hand socked the drummer, sending him skidding across the ground. No one in the immediate vicinity seemed to be very concerned when they saw the dark haired girl slug the hell out of Miroku. After all, it was usually a routine occurrence.

"Miroku. I'm _sure_... Inuyasha wouldn't be pleased to know you're telling people such PERSONAL things," Inuyasha said with a controlled darkness tinting his softer voice.

Miroku rubbed his jaw. "I don't see why that would _concern_ you, _Inuzumi-chan_. Besides, I don't see much HARM in saying it, I mean he's not even HERE for starters, and second since when has he ever cared about what people think of him?"

"You really think Sesshoumaru wants to hear that shit? HUH?" Inuyasha said between clenched teeth.

"I don't know, he's a guy. I'd think he'd have his own 'notch system'," Miroku shrugged, standing up and walking back over to them, still rubbing his jaw for the second time that night.

"Yeah, righ-"

"I use an old belt, actually," came Sesshoumaru's voice.

Inuyasha whirled around.

"What!"

The demon merely raised a brow.

"You've gotta be kidding me! YOU? Mr. Frigid as Hell-"

"I'm hardly frigid with my lovers," Sesshoumaru said tersely, eyes narrowing as he turned to regard the half-demon.

Had Inuyasha been paying attention to the atmosphere instead of his shock, he'd probably have realized this wasn't about the "truth" of things anymore, and hadn't been for a while, it was merely about male bravado.

"I highly doubt that, you barely talk to any of the bitches at school aside from that red eyed, big boobed one-"

"_My affairs are none of your concern, half-breed_," Sesshoumaru glowered then, now face to face with the hanyou who was just as snippy about this topic as the other was.

"_Oh no, blueblood?_" Inuyasha snapped back.

Before blinking in surprise that Kouga was now standing where Sesshoumaru had been. He blinked again, looking around for the cranky demon. What the hell had just happened...?

Kouga's voice came out in a dark growl as he glared across the room, fist pumped in the air in front of him. "Say that again, asshole- I don't give a crap _who_ the fuck you are-... If I hear you say that shit _one more fucking time_, I will beat you till you're black and blue."

The hanyou's eyes widened at his friend before finally landing on where Sesshoumaru laid upon the ground, holding the side of his head as he glared at the ookami though chose to remain silent and where he was.

Then Inuyasha saw the ugly bruise already forming on the pale skin.

Kouga had just punched Sesshoumaru.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end.<em>

Author's Note: Oh WAI, Kouga, wai!

**Artionn FF: **Thanks for the suggestion on Miroku; honestly I get so focused on one aspect of a story that I totally bypass other things that could be used in such epic ways! Again, thanks!


	14. A Dedication and an Explanation

**Chapter 14: A Dedication and an Explanation**

The auditorium wasn't nearly as big as Inuyasha had thought it'd be, and was in fact actually quite comfortable for those who wanted to either stand or sit, a small bar and stools lining the back wall. Most of the fans were crowded up front, standing (more like jumping up and down, chanting for "Hollywood Whore!" to come out already), anxious for the band to present the new music video they'd shot here in Edopolis for their next single "Just to Get High". After that the band would play a few songs before doing a Q&A with the audience for yet more promotion.

Inuyasha looked over to the only other person who was sitting in the back with him and winced.

Had Kouga NOT punched Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha wasn't quite sure where the youkai and he would be right now; was Sesshoumaru the type to stand up with the rest of the fans? Or was he more the loner type that would settle in the back like this? He couldn't really answer that question, but he still found himself curious to know the answer regardless.

While Sesshoumaru seemed like he'd be more the loner type (Inuyasha tried not to think of the fact his imagination could clearly picture the youkai casually draping himself against the bar as he watched the band play), the youkai _had_ hung out in the crowd, closer to the stage the first time Hollywood Whore had made an appearance in Edopolis. But then again, he'd had Kagura with him at the time...

So would he be up front, or back here still-

A sharp hiss cut Inuyasha's train of thought off as his focus was brought back to what he was supposed to be concentrating on.

"Sorry," the half-demon mumbled sheepishly as he eased the pressure of the cold cloth he was applying to Sesshoumaru's right eye.

Sesshoumaru merely huffed out his nose, his one good eye looking off to the side in a decidedly pouty manner.

Inuyasha sighed as he tried to pay extra attention to what he was doing instead of thinking of how he was going to explain the reason behind what had happened backstage...

However, his mouth got ahead of him before he could refine the hazier details.

"I'm sorry about Kouga-"

"You're beginning to repeat yourself, Aiko-san," Sesshoumaru heaved a sigh, gaze flickering over the crowed dully, referring to all the apologies he'd received after they'd left the backstage area.

"Yeah, but he requires _a lot_ of apology for. He'll do it later himself- I'll make him."

"Hn."

Inuyasha's mouth pulled up in a half-amused smile.

While Sesshoumaru hadn't come out directly and asked why Kouga had hit him, he'd still given enough signs that he wanted to know but wasn't about to ask out loud it seemed (it wasn't too surprising either, he did seem like the egotistical type where hurt pride came into play, though Inuyasha wasn't really one to talk either).

However, even if the hanyou could admit to not knowing Sesshoumaru well at all, he could say- without a doubt- that the youkai would've been back up on his feet and in Kouga's face... had he NOT been Kouga fucking Mikuni of Hollywood Whore, best friend number two of Inuyasha Takahashi.

And it wasn't even that he was friends with Inuyasha (though that was probably a HUGE, HUGGEEE part of it), it was the fact that he was part of a band Sesshoumaru had come to respect and admire in the last few years that kept not only his fist but also his mouth in check.

And that just brought it right back down to Kouga, who apparently couldn't keep his mouth OR his fist in check.

Inuyasha growled to himself at how stupid Kouga had been (and was), despite the ookami's more than likely "noble intentions" of protecting him. The dope had probably even thought, at the time, that Sesshoumaru had been insulting Inuyasha (despite him being in girl-guise at the time), when the reality was that the inuyoukai hadn't. Not even close.

The half-demon supposed there was no way Kouga could have known how close Sesshoumaru and he had gotten, or that they had a very strange and very weird understanding of sorts where the term "half-breed" was concerned. And in a very fucked up way, but a way that was _their_ _own_, "stuck up youkai" or "blueblood", and "stupid half-breed" were sort of like terms of endearment now...

Inuyasha blinked.

And then tried not to think of how red his ears, never mind his face, were right now for even thinking that, opting, instead, to explain someone else's stupidity and not dwell on his own.

"Look, about Kouga... I've known him and the guys for a long time. And I can't say 'Kouga didn't mean it', because he obviously did, otherwise you wouldn't be this... purple and puffy. But it wasn't... fuck, I don't even _know_ how to explain this!

"It's just... Miroku and Kouga have always been really protective when the word 'half-breed' comes up, and it doesn't even bother me, or Inuyasha for that matter, but they've always felt the need to defend it- violently- when it's used, even if the person who says it isn't using it as an insult or anything... Not that they're smart enough to know when it's a joke and when it's serious, the idiots."

Inuyasha continued to dab at the broken skin around Sesshoumaru's eye as he fell silent, thinking back to when all this "half-breed" business started, not noticing the new music video beginning in the background.

_They'd been friends since he could remember; Kouga, Inuyasha and Miroku having been nearly inseparable since they'd been children. Back then, while most people accepted hanyous and other mixed blood types, there was still the occasional whispers of "dirty hanyou" here and there that the ookami and inuhanyou in the group picked up on. _

_However, while Inuyasha was blissfully unaware for a good portion of his young life of what a "dirty hanyou" or "half-breed" was, Kouga was not. He knew what it meant; and he made damn sure their other friend, Miroku, knew as well. _

_And for reasons Inuyasha still didn't understand to this day, the ookami had then- and even now- caused all kinds of ruckus whenever he heard the word said in regards to his friend. Even back then he never seemed to hold back where his mouth was concerned, usually scaring the pants off any passersby, driving anyone and everyone guilty off with his over the top theatrics. And if that didn't work, fists and claws got involved then._

_As did the local authorities._

_Heh, even so..._ Inuyasha thought now, it was and had always been a genuine sign of how fiercely his friends cared for him- as he did them- and he wouldn't trade that for anything else in the world.

Except maybe to change the situation his mother and he were in now.

Inuyasha sighed, gulping back emotions he didn't want to make time for just yet.

While his mother was close enough to drive to, and even easier to call, he wasn't ready to do either of those things yet. Sure, fine, it was selfish and stupid of him, especially if she was to worsen suddenly-

_No, not going to think of that either-_ but he just... couldn't...

In the deepest recesses of his mind he could admit the reason he didn't call, write or visit her now was because he was weak. And not only that, but he was also pissed as fuck at his mother. Who had cancer. And was dying.

And that, all by itself, was just SO FUCKED UP. To be so angry at her for something she had no control over... for something that wasn't her fault at all.

But there it was all the same.

And maybe "finding his father" for her- something she hadn't even asked him to do nor would have expected him to do- was just the excuse he needed to avoid the whole thing altogether and get away from the reality and severity of it.

Inuyasha shook his head sharply, putting a stop to all of those thoughts and focusing up on what was going on around the-

"Well, shit, we missed the new video..." the half-demon murmured, snorting at the annoyed growl coming from Sesshoumaru. "Shuddup, if you paid more attention to what was going on around you, you wouldn't have missed it. That's your own damn fault."

"Stupid hanyou," the demon grumbled.

"Bitchy youkai."

The mood lightened as Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha turned to look back at the stage, the band stepping up to their instruments and ready to play their first song of the night.

* * *

><p>He'd been annoyed the moment Aiko Inuzumi mentioned to him that they'd missed the new video that Hollywood Whore was going to present tonight, but he'd be lying if he said he would've been able to pay attention to his surroundings despite being taken care of by her.<p>

The truth was there, however, in the deep radiating pain now dwelling in his right temple, reminding him that he'd been too busy biting his tongue to pay attention to what was going on around him as the half-demon girl "tended" to his wound with all the gentleness of a rabid dog going after a raw steak. Sesshoumaru couldn't help but think she seemed to have no feminine bone in her body if she talked like a sailor and walked like a Yakuza gang member.

Even now he couldn't quite keep from creasing his brow in pain.

But then the deep voice of Mikuni Kouga resounded around the room, and his vision shot to the stage, glaring automatically.

"I'd like to dedicate this first song to my... special friend, inukoro, who you all know and love, but who couldn't be here with us tonight but wishes you all the best!" the ookami yelled into the microphone as he began the pounding beat to "Next Go Around"**(1).**

As the song began, the wolf proceeded to grind suggestively into his guitar as he effortlessly sang the generously sexualized song.

If Sesshoumaru didn't know better, he'd have assumed the wolf was taunting him. But there was no way the ookami could possibly know about his little... crush. While Aiko Inuzumi was crazy and completely out of control when angered, she wasn't someone he could see as being careless with pertinent information, nor wishy washy in who she was loyal to.

A sudden snorting laughter- completely unbefitting of any person with female genes- sounded next to him and he shot an annoyed look at the girl in question.

"Guess this is his fucked up way of apologizing," the girl continued to snort-giggle. Sesshoumaru let out a long pained sigh as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and instead focused on listening to the songs despite their very apparent lack of the reason he came here.

Once the final song was played, the band and stage crew began disassembling the platform of the music equipment, Mikuni and Houshi moving to settle in the middle of the stage on the floor with microphones, asking the crowd if they wanted to do a little Q&A.

The fans' screams could possibly have broken the sound barrier in their reply as the first fan was chosen. It was a guy about his and Aiko Inuzumi's age, Sesshoumaru assumed, that asked, "How do you find time to write songs, perform your current ones and also tour?"

Something sparked in Sesshoumaru's mind then as his brows drew together in concentration of the memory, and comparing it to the answer that Houshi-san gave. A thought occurred to him after the drummer finished.

"They're neglecting to mention that Takahashi-sama has been slowly withdrawing from being the lead singer for a while now," Sesshoumaru said quietly, eyes on the stage.

There was a slight, somewhat shocked, pause from Aiko Inuzumi before she replied slowly. "How... did you know that?"

"They did an interview last fall in the States…" Sesshoumaru started out, easily falling into the memory of the day he caught it on TV.

"_So how do you guys really choose who sings what song?" the man doing the live interview asked as the band was calming down from the last question of "What's your favorite place been to tour"._

_Takahashi Inuyasha spoke up first as he casually slung an arm behind his head. "Well, sometimes we just flip a coin. Other times we'll team up against the other; like two of us'll go on vacation until a day after the track's due to be done, kinda forcing the third guy to take responsibility whether he wants to or not," the half-demon laughed. "Actually, though, we all know our strengths, and have yet to find our limits. What I mean by this is that... well, for example, Kouga here has more of an alternative rock sound when he sings-"_

_Mikuni Kouga grinned over at his friend. "Aww, inukoro, don't make me blush, we're on live TV!"_

"_-but when he's not singing he just sounds like an asshole," Inuyasha snorted out, bursting into laughter, along with Hollywood Whore's other band member, Houshi Miroku._

_The reporter laughed as the guys, all sitting side by side in front of him, started swatting at each other playfully. "And what about Inuyasha and Miroku? What are your styles?"_

_The band, still alternately laughing and glaring, settled down as Mikuni Kouga, the band's bassist, started to answer._

"_Inuyasha has more of a... light...rock sound, I guess?" the ookami said unsurely._

_Inuyasha pulled a face at that. "Light rock? What the fuck is that!"_

_Kouga rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat, ignoring his friend's jibes as he did his best to answer. "What I mean is that he sings really well when it comes to ballads, or emotional shit."_

_The half-demon rolled his eyes at the wolf's explanation, shaking his head as Houshi Miroku spoke up next, nudging Inuyasha in a vain effort to get him to stay in his chair and not reach over him to flick Kouga on the ear for his crappy answer._

"_Yeah, I agree with that. Inuyasha has a voice that kind of... I don't know what to call it exactly. It tends to resonate with people listening, like he's able to touch something in people when he sings certain songs. They don't even have to be of a certain genre; as long as the lyrics of the song have something to say, Inuyasha's able to sing it in a way that reaches into a person's chest and directly to their soul._

"_As for Kouga..." Miroku threw a mischievous look over at the wolf next to him. "Kouga tends to sing like he's smoking a cigarette, and having sex while completely trashed. When he moves on stage, it looks as much in any case."_

"_Oh man, that's so true!" Inuyasha gasped out as Miroku and he broke into another round of laughter at their friend's expense. _

_Kouga crossed his arms as he tried changing their focus. "Why don't we move onto MIROKU now, huh?" he grumbled._

_The reporter perked up as well, knowing the fans were eager to have this question answered in some way. "Yes, we'd like to know why Miroku has yet to record a song for the band. Will he be singing one for the new album coming out?"_

_Inuyasha sobered up immediately, a straight, down-to-business look plastered across his face as he answered in all seriousness. "Hell no. We don't allow Miroku to sing solo's during live gigs, so there's no way we'd let him do one that'd be on our permanent record."_

_The reporter blinked before his brows furrowed and he strained to ask his follow-up question. "Why is that?"_

_Inuyasha shrugged, looking away and narrowing his eyes at the drummer for something he was about to explain._

"_Mostly because he has the kind of voice that..." the half-demon faltered for a bit. "How'd Sango say it?" Inuyasha then asked, turning to pose his question to Kouga as the reporter perked up once again._

"_Sango Hiraikotsu from Dead Corpse Repeat?"_

_Inuyasha gave a quick nod, his focus still on and waiting for Kouga to answer his question._

_The ookami chewed his lip for a bit. "I think 'make all genders melt' or something."_

_Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I think she said it differently, but basically. Anyway, we let Miroku sing a French song with Sango in London during our first international tour." He paused, sending another glare over at Miroku, who only had the grace to grin right back at him instead of flounder. "That was the one of the only times he's sung. And that will never happen again."_

_Kouga chuckled, further explaining. "The fans went batshit insane. Like, to the point they morphed into sex-crazed psychos and nearly tore apart the stage."_

"_While we were ON it!" Inuyasha added, growling._

"_Mhm. And that was about the time we deiced: Never again. Sorry, bro," the wolf said, patting the drummer on the back._

_Miroku just snorted, shrugging._

"Wow, you remember that from nearly a year ago?" Aiko Inuzumi said, sounding impressed.

"It's difficult to forget since I ended up skipping school the next day due to lack of sleep," Sesshoumaru answered.

"Huh?..." the girl said, cocking her head to the side before her eyes brightened and she seemed to catch on. "Oh, since it was live in the U.S. during the day it was probably pretty late here, huh?"

"Mhm," the youkai murmured. "In any event, that interview was when I knew he was going to focus on his writing mainly, and why Mikuni-san was singing more regardless that they didn't exactly say it out loud."

* * *

><p>Inuyasha could only stare in wonder, before catching himself and admitting quietly, "Most fans wouldn't have seen those signs. Let alone paid attention to little details like that and come to that conclusion."<p>

A ghost of a real smile curved on the sides of the youkai's mouth, and this time Inuyasha was really mesmerized.

_If only the guy would smile more often... _

"I suppose I would surprise you with what 'little things' I've noticed about their music. And them individually."

Oh, now Inuyasha was really intrigued, not missing the way Sesshoumaru's eyes lit up as he accepted the challenge. "Like what?"

"Mikuni-san tends to..." the demon chewed on his choice of words before giving up, "wiggle his hips during Takahashi-sama's guitar solos."

Inuyasha nearly choked on his laughter, bending forward to catch his breath. "Oh my god, he totally does! I don't get why most people can't see that!"

Sesshoumaru shrugged, somewhat proudly. "Most people will assume his awkward jutting is alluring, I assume."

"Okay. Miroku. Go."

Sesshoumaru took a moment, seeming to consider something then. Inuyasha knew that look, the bastard was determining if what he could answer with would become a problem. He had that "serious Sesshoumaru is serious" look. But what exactly was he battling himself about inside that head of his?

In the blink of an eye the consideration was gone and-

"Pass."

Inuyasha nearly hurled himself into the demon with his surprise. "What?!"

"I have noticed something, and while I don't know him or the others personally..." Sesshoumaru actually stopped talking mid-sentence, shaking his head. "Next."

Inuyasha was gobsmacked yet somehow seemed to fish something out from his otherwise cottony mouth. "What about... Inuyasha?"

"He plays his guitar pickless-"

"Psh, everyone knows that," the half-demon snorted, not impressed at all.

"Let me finish," came the other's dry tone. "He plays pickless for most of the performances he does, however he always has a red pick he does play with during certain songs, ones that I can only assume have great meaning to him. As does whoever he received the guitar pick from."

Time seemed to slow then as Inuyasha stared, eyes widening slowly. _No way..._

"But... he's always giving picks away at concerts, throwing the one he has into the crowd and-" Inuyasha started saying, not believing what the youkai was saying. There was no way he- or anyone- could have noticed, aside from Kouga or Miroku who knew what that pick meant to him...

As if on cue, Sesshoumaru replied, somewhat invigorated as he shook his head. "Picks are thrown out when it'll make a good show, however, he has never given away the pick he's used since I can remember first discovering them, probably since the band itself had formed."

Eyes now wide enough to swallow his head whole, only one thought passed through the absolutely stunned hanyou's mind- _Holy fucking shit_- before he swallowed, struggling somewhat to get his next words out in a somewhat intelligible way.

"W-wow," Inuyasha breathed out, stunned. "You weren't kidding when you said you were a fan. And not just a fan-fan, but a devoted one..."

Sesshoumaru turned glowing gold eyes on him then.

"W-what now?" the half-demon stuttered.

"I believe that has been the nicest thing you've said regarding me."

Inuyasha blanched, before a guilty smile pulled up half his mouth. "That's kind of sad."

"Indeed."

Inuyasha looked off to the side, blushing as he mumbled, "You didn't let me finish either. I _meant_ to say devoted in a _creepy stalker_ way."

A snort was the only answer he received before a solemn quietness stretched between them despite the uproar going on around them. For all of one minute, that is.

When the youkai was silent... well, it unnerved the hell out of the hanyou like a bad itch his mother told him not to scratch in public.

But scratch he did.

"So... you don't seem to like the songs even though you've got that goofy look on you face whenever you talk about... the band..." Inuyasha cursed himself. How weird was it flirting with Sesshoumaru as a girl but actually doing it as himself... though having to remember he was actually a third party to the whole thing... involving himself.

God, that confused him.

"The only thing _goofy looking_ here is you, half-b... whit," the demon said, automatically correcting himself.

"Don't sweat it about the half-breed thing. When it's just you and me, you don't need to worry about that. Kouga can just go suck himself." Inuyasha snickered harder when he saw the revulsion on the other's face.

Sesshoumaru spared him a look before shaking his head. "No, despite my less than appropriate manner this past month, I should refrain from referring to... half-demons in such a way."

Inuyasha had to press his mouth together so he didn't laugh out loud. "Oh? Cause of a certain rockstar you wanna get it on with might disapprove?" The seam of his mouth finally caved under the pressure and he sniggered at the somehow angry-embarrassed look he got.

If Sesshoumaru had ears like him, they'd more than likely be plastered against his skull right now, the hanyou mused, making himself laugh even harder.

"Hardly, though I suppose something you don't understand can sometimes only be made clear when it involves something you... care for."

Inuyasha choked on his chuckles then, taken aback for a moment before he coughed out, embarrassed now himself. He looked around at everything else but the youkai next to him as he tried to find something else to talk about since it seemed like the youkai wasn't entirely interested in the mundane and recycled questions people in the audience kept asking the males on stage for the Q&A that was still going on.

"So uh... the concert..." he fished around a bit... before a question he'd been meaning to ask popped into his head. _What do you... think of _him_ when he plays?_

Truthfully, while Inuyasha was hesitant to even mention his own NAME while in this female guise, he was undeniably curious to know how the youkai saw him when he was on stage as himself but had never gotten the nerve to actually ask...

At least until now after he'd made the mistake of asking Sesshoumaru without realizing it.

The question wasn't answered right away as the demon gazed over at him in quiet contemplation before taking a breath and –shockingly- vaulting into his answer. Inuyasha could do nothing but stare in a sort of horrified fascination for the next twenty or so minutes, while the Q&A was coming to a close, as Sesshoumaru did nothing but wax lyrical about the statuesque yet fierce presence "Takahashi-sama" had when on stage.

While his explanations made the hanyou blush seventeen shades of red, they were by no means like the flowerly or flutterly words girls mostly gushed with when wanting his attention. Sesshoumaru's words were nearly pornographically poetic... or maybe that was just Inuyasha getting a little too excited about the powerful passion this guy seemed to lace through every goddamn syllable of his idol worshipping speech...

So much to the point Inuyasha could do nothing but stare at the demon's eyes and mouth as he talked... and then even after he stopped...

And before Inuyasha knew it the Q&A had finished, the screaming fans shouting for Hollywood Whore to come back onstage pulling him out of whatever fantasy he refused to think on now.

The half-demon blinked, looking around as he considered his options; they could either try to sneak backstage again- and risk Kouga pummeling Sesshoumaru or Inuyasha pummeling Kouga, which was more likely what would happen- or they could get the hell out of the vicinity before his friends managed to think something up to get them backstage and embarrass him even more.

While he really wanted a shot at Kouga-Inuyasha would beat the hell out of him later for being such a dumb, though endearing, ass- he wasn't willing to deal with him just yet, nor was he about to break the weird happy place Sesshoumaru was in right now.

So flee it was.

Inuyasha pulled the youkai harshly, confident Sesshoumaru would follow but not risking losing him in the crowd as he weaved through the crowd out to the darkened streets of Edopolis.

He dropped the demon's wrist as he made to walk in the direction of his apartment. "Well, see ya."

"Where are you going," Sesshoumaru inquired, following.

"Walking home-"

"You shouldn't be walking by yourself at this hour."

Inuyasha paused, cocking a brow and ready to retort with a fiery "Oh, ya think so do you?" before thinking about bolting down the street like a rocket.

However, his remark was clearly anticipated in the narrowed look the demon was giving him, and the hanyou actually shrank away from his usual course of action when things got a little too awkward.

"I will be walking you home," Sesshoumaru said then with finality, giving him a look that said the other clearly had no say in this matter.

"..."

At the pointed look, Inuyasha gave in.

"FINE, you overbearing sonuvabitch," Inuyasha grumbled as they walked side by side down the street.

Only managing to get ten feet before the irritating ring of a phone sounded, both Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha stopping and blinking down at their pockets before the youkai fished through his and brought his cell phone (a very manly shade of BLACK, Inuyasha noted) to his ear with an irritated frown after having checked caller ID.

"Hahaue," he greeted, his voice monotone and dry as he addressed his mother, his eyes easily conveying to Inuyasha they should continue walking-

Before the youkai nearly tripped over his own two feet as he came to an abrupt halt, a look not unlike one of constipation appearing on his face at what his mother was apparently saying.

Inuyasha could only stare, both highly curious and highly amused at the faces the other was- unknowingly- making in public.

"Yes, hahaue. Yes, I – I can't be there by then tonight-"

Inuyasha, still too interested in the expressions of horror filling the demon's face to laugh, simply stared with large eyes as Sesshoumaru floundered where he stood, looking every which way as if he'd find some answer to whatever it was he was trying to answer standing around him.

And then his gold eyes landed on Inuyasha and something desperate lit up in them.

"No- I- ACTUALLY, Mother, I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND. ...her name? HER NAME IS... Aiko... Inuzumi-san..." Sesshoumaru said in low tones, head now turning away as he steadily avoided eye contact after that as he was probably nearly deafened by the identical screechings assaulting him from the other side of the phone and to his right.

"_**WHAT!?"**_

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end.<em>

Author's Note: I really hope some of you re-read the fic if you think Sesshoumaru's still being an ass. His words to Inuzumi do NOT hold the bigotry they once did in them. It sucks that I have to explain that but I probably didn't convey it well enough in my writing.

**(1)** "Next Go Around" by Nickelback (go listen to it!)


	15. Abandoned for the Better

**Chapter 15: Abandoned for the Better**

He wasn't sure how it happened exactly, but one moment he'd been making up the most absurd lie of his life and then the next he was left sitting in Hollywood Whore's dressing room by himself.

Sesshoumaru cringed as the memory of how he'd ended up here replayed over and over in his mind without a shred of remorse for his ego.

"_No- I- Actually, Mother, I have a girlfriend. ...her name? Well it's... Aiko...Inuzumi-san..." Sesshoumaru had muttered as lowly as he could, studiously avoiding any and all eye contact with the girl next to him as his own eyes widened slowly with dawning horror of what he'd just uttered._

_A piercing shriek sounded throughout the area as both Aiko-san and his mother yelled out identical screeches of "WHAT!?"_

_Sesshoumaru flipped his cell shut the next moment and turned to start explaining something he didn't quite understand himself- though really it wasn't necessary, it was none of Aiko Inuzumi's business and had absolutely nothing to do with him panicking and blindly grasping for words a moment ago merely to placate his mother and get him out of a rather abrupt and undesirable blind date._

_But as he tried to give some kind of excuse that might make any ounce of sense, Aiko-san merely turned around and silently walked down the alleyway route they'd taken into the venue earlier, apparently too scandalized to even verbally berate him for his incompetence._

Between entering the building and sitting on the leather couch inside the band's green room, Sesshoumaru had absolutely no idea where anyone else was, and for all anyone knew- other than that insufferable Aiko Inuzumi herself- no one was even aware he was still here. Sitting alone. Like a fool.

A highly rare moment of pure anxiety hit Sesshoumaru then.

Perhaps everyone had gone about their business, shutting everything down, cleaning the venue, packing up the band's equipment and or abandoning him like Aiko-san did when she glared at him in reprimand, and hissed, "_Stay,_" before slamming the door shut and disappearing earlier...?

Of which had been at least a half hour ago.

Sesshoumaru sighed irritably as he sat back and turned the impossibly large TV in front of him on, the default channel causing him to perk up almost immediately.

The new music video of Hollywood Whore's next single "Just to Get High", the one they'd filmed here in Edopolis and previewed earlier during the concert, blared to life on the wall sized screen. Eyes successfully tunnel visioned, Sesshoumaru fell into the hypnotic rhythm of the song, eyebrows rising in quiet shock as he recognized one of the buildings the band was performing on top of.

"Impossible... He would have said something..." Sesshoumaru whispered to himself as he continued to watch the video play out, a few more generous shots taken on top of the skyscraper his father worked in.

Suddenly the door slammed open with unnecessary gusto, startling the youkai who only just managed to catch himself from jumping as he instinctively hit the mute button and turned to look at the room's sudden new occupant.

"Ah! Here you are! We were afraid you might have left already," Houshi Miroku said as he walked casually into the room, not bothering to shut the door behind him.

Sesshoumaru could do little more than stare at the worldwide rockstar as he leaned against the back of the couch and grinned over at him. "I'm sorry?" the demon said uncertainly. He had absolutely no idea what the human was going on about.

The grin on Houshi Miroku's face slipped off awkwardly as he blinked down at Sesshoumaru confusedly. "Well, Inuzumi left..."

"She..." Sesshoumaru repeated slowly, more so to himself than the drummer, as he seemed to look passed Miroku with disbelieving eyes.

"Left. Yeah. She was going on and _on_ about having to plan someone's death in the very near future and said she had to get home. But don't worry! I had Kouga take her back to her place, so she's safe-" Miroku paused, considering. "...enough, anyway." He shrugged, none too concerned.

"She said nothing else?"

"She... did leave a verbal... farewell for you..." Miroku said, looking off to the side like he hadn't wanted to admit that.

Sesshoumaru remained quiet, waiting.

The drummer grumbled to himself, and, shoving his hands into his pockets, mumbled, "And I quote, _'Peace out, motherfucker!'_"

The demon's brow twitched. Yes, that absolutely sounded as vile as the girl herself was where manners were concerned.

"I see," was all the youkai found he could appropriately reply with.

Miroku laughed the awkwardness of the moment off as he rubbed the back of his neck. "In any case, 'm glad he decided to take time off from his many adventures here in Japan to join us, otherwise you'd be stuck calling a cab or walking all the way home by yourself! I mean, not to sound rude, I'd take you home but I've got a party to go to on the other side of town-"

"..." Sesshoumaru's mouth flopped a bit, not fully understanding the American. Don't get him wrong, his English was supremely good, but when someone native to the language started rambling like this it would be hard for even someone like his father- who'd adopted English as his second language- to grasp all the concepts the fast speaking American was jabbering on about.

He? He who? Was the drummer speaking in English or talking in circles? Sesshoumaru couldn't really tell and instead just nodded his head in mock understanding.

"Damn, Miroku, leave the guy alone already; he looks about ready to have a panic attack," came the sudden voice of something sincerely close to heaven. Sesshoumaru slowly turned his head to the side as another person entered the room. That person being none other than Takahashi Inuyasha-sama himself.

"Heya," the hanyou grinned, walking further into the room to stand near Houshi Miroku. The two high-fived and exchanged pleasantries as Sesshoumaru attempted to fasten his eyeballs back in his head as he took in the half-demon's ensemble.

A surely toned torso was covered in a form-fitting muscle t-shirt that was enclosed by a nicely worn leather jacket, while his lower half was encased in snug black jeans.

"Hey, Sesshoumaru, long time no see."

Somewhere off to the side, long forgotten by either of the white-haired youkais, Miroku snickered. Sesshoumaru didn't notice at all however as he moved to stand up.

"Takahashi Inuyasha-sama," the demon breathed out in greeting as he bowed low.

"Uh, just Inuyasha is fine," the half-demon said with an embarrassed laugh, bowing slightly in return.

"H-hai," Sesshoumaru barely whispered in reply, golden eyes staring sightlessly at the floor in both wonder and absolute horror. To have his idol see him looking like this, with a black eye and cut lip from his earlier encounter with Mikuni Kouga- never mind him being the reason that whole thing happened? And all because of a careless comment he'd made? It made this moment both shameful and embarrassing instead of exhilarating like it should have been. "I..." he tried to say more but it died as he was at a loss for words.

In the background he could still vaguely hear Houshi-san snickering to himself.

"Alright, that's enough out of _you_," Takahashi-sama said suddenly, glaring over at his friend.

Sesshoumaru blinked back to reality, completely missing anything the two had been talking about.

"Aren't you late for some party?" the hanyou questioned somewhat irritably as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Right. The party." Houshi Miroku stifled another laugh as he grabbed his coat and started to leave. "See you later, man," he said to his friend before turning shining violet eyes on Sesshoumaru. "Nice to see you again, too. Night-"

Takahashi Inuyasha slammed the door in the drummer's grinning face, hearing a loud curse outside thanks to his efforts, and smiled to himself, proud. Turning back around, the half-demon paused, blinking. "Uh, sorry about that," he apologized.

Sesshoumaru could only nod dumbly. Takahashi Inuyasha-sama and he were alone in a room. Together. Again.

"Whoa, you okay? I was only joking before, but now you really do look like you might start hyperventilating. Here take this," the half-demon said as he handed Sesshoumaru a glass of water, taking a seat on the couch and motioning for the other to do the same.

Sesshoumaru sat down, staring at the water in his hands for a while before his manners came back to him. "Thank you," he said quietly then, taking a sip to try and calm himself down. What was wrong with him? Usually he was able to effortlessly converse with others of considerable... wealth, power and beauty, easily. But now... with him...

"So, what'd you think?" the hanyou said suddenly, breaking through the demon's thoughts.

Sesshoumaru had the grace to blush lightly as he caught the half-demon's questioning eyes.

_They're so gold..._

"Sesshoumaru?"

The youkai bit his tongue, chastising himself for falling into fantasy when the real thing was right here in front of him.

"I apologize, I was lost in my thoughts. What did you say?" he admitted rather sheepishly. _And only for him do I not mind being reduced to this..._ he sighed, feeling defeated by his own feelings.

Takahashi Inuyasha-sama stared at him oddly for a moment, making the demon's heart nearly jump in his throat before he responded, composed as ever.

"The music video we shot here in Edopolis, I assume you got to see the preview they showcased tonight?"

_Oh, that's what he was referring to..._

"No, actually. I was... side-tracked by a slight altercation earlier, so during the showing I must have missed it."

"Ah, I see."

"I did, however, watch it while waiting here for Aiko-san..." Sesshoumaru continued, motioning to the TV that continued to replay the music video mutely. The screen played a moment longer before another thought occurred to him. "That building there," he started saying as the skyscraper came into view. "My father works there," he said simply.

The half-demon's brows rose as his mouth dropped open. "S-seriously?"

"Hai," the demon nodded, curious of the reaction he received.

"Heh," Inuyasha snorted, leaning back into the couch as he settled his feet on top of the coffee table like the mannerless Westerner that he was. And all Sesshoumaru could do was stare because this was Takahashi Inuyasha-sama, "King of the Mannerless Westerners" (as Sesshoumaru's mother referred to him as, which always infuriated him to no end), and he couldn't bring himself to really care like he usually would have where decorum was concerned because the hanyou rockstar made it look abysmally appealing in a way only he could.

The demon swallowed, forcefully looking away as he tried to concentrate on what the guitarist was currently saying once again.

"...but seriously, poor guy. Your dad works for a man with a serious case of hardassery," the half-demon chortled to himself.

"Hard... assery?" Sesshoumaru's brows furrowed. "I'm unsure of what that term means."

"Uh, a hardass?" the half-demon tried. "You know, someone that's difficult to negotiate with? Extremely stubborn?"

"Ah," the youkai's face lost its previous consternation.

"Mhm, it took us more than a week to get the company's CEO to let us shoot part of the video on top of his building."

_Hn. Father never mentioned this, and as much as I'd like to think otherwise, my family is partially aware of my... extreme interest in the band. I'll have to ask him about it when I get home_, Sesshoumaru thought, frowning.

"Anyway, I- uh, guess I should get you home since you were kind of abandoned here, and it is really late," the half-demon blushed, sitting up and looking at his hands.

"Hai, Houshi Miroku-san did mention that Aiko-san was... unhappy with me and left, though I'm not entirely sure why," the youkai murmured, unable to look away from the silently sputtering guitarist. _Why on earth is he so embarrassed? Shouldn't it be the other way around?_ the demon wondered, still entranced.

"Uh, yeah, well... she's sorta pissed at you for telling someone that you guys are dating... so she split."

Sesshoumaru felt the blood drain from his face, and quite possibly out of his entire body. Takahashi-sama... knew? He thought it couldn't have gotten much worse than being left to get home on his own by Aiko Inuzumi, but now his idol actually knew he'd told his mother that they were dating? He could only hope the rockstar didn't believe it...

"We _aren't_ dating, I just..." God, how much more mortifying could this get?

The half-demon snickered as he stood. "Don't worry about it. From how I heard it, it sounded more like you were trying to cover your ass for something and just used the first person you could think of. I really doubt Inuzumi cares either."

Sesshoumaru visibly sighed.

"Though I should tell you while she doesn't really care, that doesn't mean she'll let it go easily. You should prepare for her payback, however that'll come," the hanyou added, almost as if he was enjoying it. "In any event, she left, which is why I'm here now."

Sesshoumaru stared, not understanding the connecting reason (though without really having to think about it, he really didn't care about the reasons).

Takahashi Inuyasha stared back.

"So... yeah, I'm just here for... damage control, I guess."

"Oh." _Oh? Could that have sounded anymore asinine?_

A few more moments of uncomfortable silence ensued. "Right. Well... Inuzumi mentioned you guys were going to walk home together?" the hanyou tried again, flipping the TV off and walking toward the door.

Sesshoumaru finally came back to himself and stood as well, nodding. "That was the original intention, though I was going to walk _her_ home. It's inexcusable to allow a young woman to walk alone at this time of night."

The half-demon seemed to stifle a snort. "Well, I guess that makes you the girl in this relationship tonight, Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru stopped dead in his tracks, face coloring as those words sunk into the filthiest part of his mind. "I... I'm sorry?" he nearly wheezed out. Somehow breathing was entirely too difficult to do right now.

"I'll be the gentleman tonight and walk you home," Takahashi Inuyasha-sama smiled, amusement twinkling in his eyes as he gestured for Sesshoumaru to walk out first. The demon obeyed blindly, not sure if he was awake or dreaming at this point, and not at all regretting the single, seductive thought that passed his moral reserve as his eyes dipped south of the hanyou's leather jacket as he walked passed him again to get another door.

_I don't think I'd mind if he _wasn't_ a gentlemen..._ Sesshoumaru felt his face grow warm again with the thought as he made a rather gallant effort to refocus his eyes on the horizon above the half-demon's head as they headed out into the night.

* * *

><p>Exiting the venue, Inuyasha snorted to himself again, having caught the demon's flushed face in his peripheral vision. Not missing a beat, the hanyou made it a point to send his best "reassuring" (sexy-as-hell-come-hither) grin over his shoulder, thoroughly enjoying the sight of Sesshoumaru's jaw tightening for another reason other than anger or impatience.<p>

_Oh, yes,_ Inuyasha thought._I was right with my assumption the other day. This is going to be _way_ too much fun._

* * *

><p><em>Chapter end<em>.


	16. A Walk to Remember

Note: First, I have no patience, hence this is up. Second, some of you are jumping the gun on their relationship... so I thought it fit to tease you mercilessly with this chapter. Lastly and most importantly, thank you to all that read and review and like this fic! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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><p><strong>Chapter 16: A Walk to Remember<strong>

It was awkward.

Here he was walking home with Takahashi Inuyasha-san, and he had absolutely no idea what to say. What could someone like him bring up in casual conversation that would actually spark and maintain any kind of interest for someone of worldwide-known rockstar status?

Sesshoumaru's mind briefly wandered to all the females that attempted to start up inane conversations with him at school and from around the neighborhood on a frequently irritating basis...

_What great weather we're having, huh?_

_You're so cool, Musashi-sama!_

_Both of our given names start with 'S', we're destined for one another!_

Sesshoumaru viciously smothered those examples to death in his mind. Not only were they obscenely ridiculous, but they'd never be sophisticated enough to use in casual conversation with Takahashi-san...

"I think it's gonna rain," the hanyou's voice blurted out of nowhere.

The demon blinked up at the sky. Indeed, it was much darker looking than it should be at this time of night, never mind the rumbling in the distance.

"How far do you live again?"

Sesshoumaru looked around at the street they were on. "Several blocks south. I doubt we'll make it there before the weather-"

No sooner had he said anything, the rain began trickling down, steadily growing heavier the longer they stood there staring at the sky in either surprise or irritation.

"This way?" Inuyasha yelled over the thunder. Sesshoumaru nodded and took off running down the quickly-deserted streets after the hanyou.

They ran for several minutes, both completely drenched by now but not seeming to care right away as their run to get to Sesshoumaru's home as quick as possible became something of a race.

It started out with Sesshoumaru easily catching up to Takahashi-san, then without meaning to running a bit faster than the slightly shorter male. The half-demon had watched him for a curious moment before snorting to himself and yelling over the down pour, "Damn you and your long legs!" and before Sesshoumaru could recover from such a statement the hanyou had surged forward, outrunning him by a good few paces.

Only after did the demon pick up his own pace, intent to see what exactly the other was doing as he caught up to the guitarist easily. He looked over at him, tilting his head a bit as they continued to run, and a strange sense of delight pulled at the sides of his mouth and bloomed in his chest at the scandalized look the half-demon gave when he noticed Sesshoumaru keeping pace with him effortlessly.

Inuyasha sputtered in his direction before growling and kicking it up another notch down yet another street.

Sesshoumaru snorted to himself, eyes full of amusement as he grinned and took off after the feisty hanyou.

They raced a bit more, but as the storm grew in strength, lighting shooting from the sky as thunder cracked hard against the clouds, Sesshoumaru checked the street they were currently on, making a split second decision and heaving himself in front of Takahashi Inuyasha-san again (earning himself an aggravated oath), this time rounding a corner and ducking into a small boutique's entryway.

Inuyasha turned the corner a second later and Sesshoumaru's hand shot out, grabbing the half-demon by the back of his leather jacket and hauling him into the tiny space with him. However, he'd pulled a bit more forcefully than intended and the guitarist came crashing into him.

Sesshoumaru winced as he felt the air nearly knocked out of him and cursed himself for not calculating the move better.

At least until he realized he had an arm full of Takahashi Inuyasha-san... steadying the other so the hanyou didn't accidentally stumble backwards and hit his head on something.

He breathed in slowly, detecting the layer beneath the smell of rain, damp clothes and body wash and cologne. Dear gods... Sesshoumaru released a curse as he unconsciously steeled his arms further around the shorter male. He gulped, never wanting to lose this feeling of fleeting intimacy.

Unfortunately it was sooner rather than later that the half-demon started to push himself away from the youkai's embrace with a resounding groan. Sesshoumaru held his breath slightly- which was silly, but he was nervous all the same- wondering whether he'd be given the silent "nothing happened" treatment or cursed out for... what had he heard Houshi Miroku-san say once during an interview about males touching for longer than necessary? Oh, yes... having a "gay moment".

If the hanyou accused him of something to that affect, the demon didn't know how he'd react. He did know however, with absolute certainty, that it'd probably crush him in more ways than he'd ever like to admit.

* * *

><p>Inuyasha's eyes were huge as they stared at the demon's drenched shirt in a very up close and exceedingly personal type of way. Sesshoumaru was... holding him. Well, "steadying" him was probably more accurate, but his arms were completely encasing his own body all the same.<p>

And it felt... ridiculous and surreal and downright amazing.

He could smell the demon through the drenched layers of clothes... Nothing else clung to his skin like the classy cologne he liked to wear, nor the fragrant scent of a brand name body wash. It was just... purely Sesshoumaru. Warm, comforting... not really spicy like he'd heard most girls say guys smelt like, but thick and full of mixing aroma he couldn't even begin to name as of yet and-

_Shit. _

Time caught up with Inuyasha's rational mind, as did reality, and one hard fact dealt a rather nasty reality check to his groin. He'd remained idle in Sesshoumaru's arms for longer than the allotted "30 seconds of accident" (10 seconds to come back to yourself, 10 more seconds to understand the situation and 10 additional seconds on top of that to use efficient and evasive actions before any such situation became a "gay moment" before the ticker hit 31 seconds). It was one of the top Codes of Bros, according to Miroku, and all Inuyasha could do in his denial to cover up his embarrassment- he'd almost SNIFFED Sesshoumaru's neck! Like, got up on his toes and ran his nose against that thick column of scenty, warm flesh and...-

He pushed against the demon's chest immediately, groaning in aggravation of his own idiocy along the way.

"For fuck's sake, warn a guy when you do that, would you? I think I might have blacked out there for a second when my head hit your chest! What the hell do you have under your shirt anyway! Metal?! Christ..." Inuyasha complained as he held his head in his hands, mindful to hide whatever blush was more than likely creeping its way up into his traitorous cheeks. He wobbled backwards a couple feet to lean against the other side of the entryway.

"Gomen," came Sesshoumaru's quiet apology. His tone was such that Inuyasha let go of any embarrassment he'd had earlier and looked up to see what was wrong.

The demon's face was cast out toward the deserted streets, looking like he was a million miles away, a strange look weighing down on his features. Inuyasha instantly felt his heart jump at the sight. He didn't like that look on the youkai at all.

Without thinking Inuyasha pushed himself forward, effectively invading Sesshoumaru's space again as he gently pulled the demon's chin toward him, the look of shock crossing the other's face going unnoticed by him as he studied the bruise Sesshoumaru had acquired earlier in the evening with a critical eye.

It'd begun to settle by the looks of the darkening area. By morning, if not sooner, it'd be all but gone. However, regardless of Sesshoumaru's surely renowned pedigree, even a demon's wounds could take days to heal when dealt by others of the same caliber. And Inuyasha knew from experience that Kouga hit like a motherfucker; he wouldn't be surprised if Sesshoumaru woke up the next morning still sporting the same sized bruise as he did now.

Healing abilities aside, Sesshoumaru had sustained more than just a good right hook, it also looked like, upon closer inspection, that the demon had also acquired a few nicks here and there, though where those had come from he had no-

Inuyasha's mind went white with anger as a sudden thought occurred to him.

Kouga had worn his ring when he'd hit Sesshoumaru. A ring the three of the friends had bought when starting their band a few years ago... A ring the ookami had said was stupid and barely ever wore…

_That shitty wolf_, Inuyasha cursed to himself. Did he plan this? Or was it coincidental? It had to have been on the fly; there was no way Kouga would have known that Sesshoumaru would refer to him- jokingly- as a "half-breed" that evening...

The half-demon sighed, he'd talk to Kouga about that later though. Right now he needed to focus on getting Sesshoumaru home so he could take care of his injury.

"We should probably get you home, you need to put something cold on that eye, and clean out those cuts," Inuyasha said suddenly, eyes finally flitting up to lock with Sesshoumaru's. An intense moment happened then, one neither of them took the time to fully analyze, as the sound of the pounding rain lessened and the world around them shifted further away, leaving nothing but raw emotions either had yet to completely comprehend.

And then the next moment it was gone, broken as someone blared their horn down the street.

Inuyasha inhaled sharply, noting distractedly that Sesshoumaru did the same, both looking away, trying to not only catch their breath but their scattered thoughts as well.

Inuyasha stepped back until he was leaning against the opposite wall again as casually as he could. If anything, he was pretty good at acting (if he did say so himself), what with pretending to be a girl and all. He just hoped his nonchalance as he laughed at the driver still honking his horn down the way was enough to fool the demon concentrating on anything but him.

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><p>Sesshoumaru stared at an interesting- though admittedly, he really didn't want to know- stain on the concrete beneath his feet with a ferocity befitting one as confused as he was right now.<p>

If he didn't know better he'd have thought, even hoped, that there'd been a moment between them just then... but Takahashi Inuyasha-san's sudden cool nonchalance confused him. Perhaps there hadn't been something there and he'd just imagined it as he had so many other times he refused to admit to doing. Instead, he took a breath, braced himself and murmured his agreement about putting something cold on his eye, if not for the purpling bruise he sported than definitely for the throbbing headache growing steadily by the minute.

"Indeed," he finally replied, pushing himself away from the wall and looking out into the- for the most part- desolate street, save for the driver still honking at something. He sent a chilling gaze toward the dark tinted car.

The rain began letting up and Sesshoumaru sent a sidelong glance over at his companion as the guitarist came to stand next to him.

"Lead the way," the hanyou said, exaggerating his words by swooping an arm out in front of them. Sesshoumaru snorted before looking up and down the street and starting into a light jog through the thinning fall of rain. He felt more than saw the half-demon on his heels, carefully avoiding or respectfully following, he wasn't sure which, Sesshoumaru's movements.

Sesshoumaru frowned as he continued on down the street as another, more displeasing thought occurred to him. While somewhere in the back of his mind he'd been foolishly hoping Takahashi Inuyasha-san wouldn't notice his face, perhaps that'd been what that earlier moment had been all about, the half-demon merely checking out his bruise and not... him.

An unintended growl escaped his throat at that. Listen to him, he sounded ridiculous. However, despite his emotions getting the better of him he couldn't help it. He wasn't sure why but this hanyou (actually both- and the only- hanyou he knew did this but he refused to acknowledge the shorter, darker haired one at the moment) seemed to draw out his emotions more than anyone else he'd ever known.

And he wasn't sure how he felt about that. All he was content with now was simply being this close to the other, regardless of extenuating circumstances.

"I didn't mean to embarrass you or anything-" the half-demon suddenly said from behind.

Sesshoumaru's face- had the other been in front to see it- was quite possibly very laugh worthy with how shocked he was at the declaration. So much so that a small "Hn," was all that he seemed capable of getting out. Had he tried speaking more than that he was afraid it'd come out in more of a high-pitched squeal of some sort, the kind he knew most females seemed prone to.

An awkward silence fell and Sesshoumaru suddenly felt like a complete asshole for his short reply.

Resounding laughter filled the void then, however, as Takahashi Inuyasha-san jogged up beside him, grinning. "You're a really proud person aren't you?"

The demon had to bite his lip to keep from automatically replying with the truth of the matter, effectively holding back the "You have no idea" now stuck in his throat. It was then that he noticed the upcoming landscape before them.

An idea struck, and Sesshoumaru arched a brow, silently challenging the other as he slowed his pace and looked from their position before over to a large gate further down the road.

The half-demon's dripping ears perked and he looked back to Sesshoumaru, glittering eyes accepting the dare.

And with that the two took off, neither really caring who won this race and instead merely reveling in the fun they had, running toward one destination together.

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><p><em>Chapter end<em>


	17. A Deer Caught in the Bedroom?

NOTE: Thanks so much to all that have read and reviewed, not to mention to harpergunbunny over at AFF who gave this fic a chance and then left this awesome review: _I went into this wanting to dislike it. Its got all the signs of being something that could be horrible: high school, fame... well i have to say your skill has sold me on this fic. I really enjoy this fic and have to give you props for taking situations that usually end up ruining a fic and mastering them. Great job!_

This chapter is dedicated to you!

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><p><strong>Chapter 17: A Deer Caught in the... Bedroom?<br>**

"Well, shit," Inuyasha mumbled, trying to catch his breath as he leaned against his knees. Not only did he lose the race (by just centimeters!), his clothes, bangs, ears, and everything were completely sopping wet.

Taking a much needed breath the half-demon gazed up in wonder at the ridiculously large gate before him. "Hell, I'd say your family's compensating for something but that'd just be rude."

Sesshoumaru- who didn't appear winded in the least, damn him- snorted beside him. "Indeed." The youkai peered around, brows creasing as he seemed to wait for something that wasn't happening.

Inuyasha frowned. "What's wrong?"

"There's usually someone stationed at the gate-" he paused, considering. "Do you have the time?"

Inuyasha rummaged around in his pocket before successfully pulling out his man-phone, handing it over to the questioning demon. "By the way, next time? I'll definitely win," he bravadod, knowing his words were nothing but pride talking. "You definitely only won because of those damn long legs of yours," he added, eyes traveling up said legs. And then Inuyasha's heart stuttered, tripped over his jaw and fell down the fucking stairs that more than likely led all the way to his own special place in hell. Did he really just give Sesshoumaru a blatant once over and porny bedroom eyes?

Inuyasha chanced a look up. Maybe he didn't...

Nope. The demon's surprised face answered that mortifying question. Fuck, he definitely did hear that. _Fuck_, his _legs?_ Inuyasha thought desperately. What the hell was his problem? No, wait, he knew the answer to that too. If he had any control over the comedy act that was apparently his life he'd fire his stupid brain-to-mouth filter for slacking on the job and letting him spew that out!

After a moment of staring, Inuyasha cleared his throat and steamrolled ahead. If he didn't draw too much attention to the fact that just happened the youkai might think nothing of it, right? Right.

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><p>Sesshoumaru stood frozen- a distasteful habit he seemed to be picking up whenever he was within the same vicinity as Takahashi-san, like some lovestruck <em>female<em> - completely forgetting the reason he'd asked for the time in the first place.

He knew better than to think that the hanyou's words were meant as anything more than jest but the way he was out of breath and sluggish from their impromptu race Sesshoumaru could almost fool himself into thinking Takahashi-san was flirting with him. The notion, no matter how ridiculous, still made his heart jolt. It was with pure control that he was able to hold himself back from replying aloud with something like, _"Yours too. They're amazing. And long. They're... You've got legs."_ And if he were being truly honest with himself, Sesshoumaru would be able to admit his lack of verbal response was really just due to shock and the fact that he felt like an animal about to be struck by oncoming traffic. Traffic that had really long, amazing legs.

Fortunately, or otherwise, he was fairly proficient in the art of ignoring disconcerting situations.

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat, effectively dropping his eyes from Takahashi-san's for a moment of respite (he briefly wondered if looking away would be seen as rude. That thought was closely followed by an answering _Yes, that would be rude to look away from such stunning eyes_). However, before the demon could make eye contact again (that was important, people liked being paid attention to, right?) his gaze fell upon the item in his grasp, his mind finally catching up with the current situation.

There in his hand was Takahashi Inuyasha-san's cell phone. His _personal_ cellphone. Sesshoumaru felt a flush of embarrassment as he remembered he'd asked for the time; he'd actually been referring to the half-demon checking the watch on his wrist but this could work too. Now if only he could get over the trepidation of actually holding something so personal of Takahashi-san's. Taking another breath he flipped the phone open.

It was an hour passed midnight. No wonder the guard usually stationed at the entrance was gone.

Sesshoumaru almost dropped the phone the next moment when he heard a chuckle and looked up to find Takahashi-san laughing. He was sure the look on his face clearly conveyed his confusion, but that fleeting feeling of inadequacy was easily quashed at the wonderful sound the half-demon was making (more than likely at his own expense, but he really didn't care).

"Hah, I guess we were both a little winded by that race that we didn't even realize it…" the hanyou continued to chortle.

"To what are you referring?" Sesshoumaru asked, eyes mirroring the hanyou's own mirth.

"You asked for the time. I gave you my cell, but you could have easily checked your phone just as well. Or I guess I could have... checked my watch. Hell," Takahashi-san groaned, laughing.

For once Sesshoumaru was glad the lighting around the front gate was as poor as it was because he was fairly certain his face was as bright as a cherry blossom. He bowed immediately, presenting the phone back to its owner. "I apologize, Takahashi-sama. Thank you for letting me use your phone."

"Whoa, whoa, calm down! I didn't think of checking my watch- seriously, how stupid is that? Seriously, I just thought it was funny, no harm done, Sesshoumaru. Chill," the half-demon said, giving Sesshoumaru an amused expression as he took his phone back. "Geez, you might just be higher strung than most of the girls I've dated," the shorter male chuckled before he instantly frowned to himself.

Sesshoumaru tensed again, not sure where the dark clouds in his mind came from at that statement. He didn't like hearing about past lovers that had been with the half-demon even though that information was absolutely none of his business.

"But," the hanyou started again, biting his lip as he seemed lost in his own thoughts. "I suppose I've always found that an attractive characteristic, which is probably why I kept dating people like that."

The dark clouds within Sesshoumaru's mind instantly dispersed. _A-Attractive? He...Did that mean that he..._

"Shit, rain's starting to come down again," Takahashi-san cursed, shooing him closer to the gate and under the slight overhang guarding from the sudden downpour. "Let's get you inside."

"H-hai," Sesshoumaru replied dumbly, turning around to just stare at the gate.

Not a moment ticked by before the half-demon muttered at the obscenely large wooden door. "How the hell do you open this thing? _Open Sesame!_" Takahashi-san's shoulders slumped at that, and when nothing happened he resorted to kicking it.

Sesshoumaru couldn't help his next actions, not after seeing the stubborn determination crossing the half-demon's striking features.

And then the gate clicked, opening slightly. Takahashi-san stared in wonder down at his own foot before looking over at Sesshoumaru with the biggest, goofiest smile-

Before it promptly fell off into something dangerously close to adorable as he pouted.

Sesshoumaru dropped his arm away from the key pad and shrugged as if he had no idea how the door had opened.

"Nice try, jerk. Almost tricked me," Takahashi-san said, snorting at his own foolishness. "Well, I suppose I'll let you go."

_Let him..._ Sesshoumaru repeated in his mind. _No..._

His hand shot out then, grabbing the half-demon's elbow and pulling him forward on a desperate whim. The hanyou let out an oath as he stumbled into Sesshoumaru who steadied the others body with his own.

Takahashi Inuyasha-san froze, slowly looking up at Sesshoumaru, their heads closer than either of them had realized.

"U-Uh...?" Takahashi-san tried to get out.

Sesshoumaru grasped for his own words likewise, eyes sweeping down to the hanyou's mouth briefly as he licked his own. "I apologize, Takahashi-san," he started, gently letting the slightly shorter male go and taking a respectable step back. "However, it's late. And if I were to let you walk all the way back in this weather..." he trailed off, taking a breath and trying again. "It would be the same as allowing Aiko Inuzumi-san to walk home without an escort. It's rude."

"Okay..." the half-demon said slowly, eying him warily.

"Not that that would stop her of course," Sesshoumaru added almost absently. "What I mean to say is, I'd be honored if you'd stay the night. In my family's_ home_," the demon quickly corrected himself. Was that too forward? His cheeks heated again as the half-demon continued to look at him with searching eyes.

Sesshoumaru could only hope the other didn't walk away, his reasons far more selfish rather than dealing with etiquette or even the weather.

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><p><em>Run or get hit by the oncoming car that was Sesshoumaru… Run or get hit by<em>- Inuyasha thought as he stared wide-eyed at the tall, dripping wet demon in front of him.

"Kay…" was the hanyou's eloquent reply. He watched as the youkai straightened up and nodded affirmatively as he turned around.

"This way then, Takahashi-san."

Inuyasha followed mutely. What the hell was he getting himself into now? Staying the night at Sesshoumaru's? When his guy self and the other had only had a couple brief encounters? What the hell kind of message did that send?

_God he better not make too much outta this and he better not think I'm easy, _Inuyasha grumbled, more frustrated with himself than with the demon. He snorted as he thought he saw something close to a bounce in the youkai's step as he followed the other.

Inuyasha walked past the gate, Sesshoumaru easily shutting it behind him. The area around them was rather dark, save for the lit up path that trailed along a bit further.

Once inside Sesshoumaru led him down a few hallways before quietly opening the door to- what he assumed- was Sesshoumaru's room and then quietly shut it once they were inside.

The demon sighed, the first sound Inuyasha had heard since they'd walked into the grand mansion as he flipped a switch, the room instantly filling with light. Inuyasha winced as his eyes adjusted. Looking around anxiously he was strangely let down that all in all it was a pretty... dull room.

"Uhh... nice room?" the half-demon tried to be polite when in reality he was slightly surprised (okay, a lot, alright?) that Sesshoumaru's room wasn't covered from wall to wall in Hollywood Whore posters.

The youkai snorted as he rummaged around through a closet. "This isn't my room; mine is the one on the left down the hall. This is the guest accommodations," he said simply as he handed the half-demon a pile of linens. "Here. Fresh sheets and something to sleep in."

Inuyasha blinked before bowing slightly. "Thanks..." So he... was going to sleep in a guest room? Okay, that confused him. It's not like he was expecting to be in the same room as Sesshoumaru or anything like that! It was just... Well, he wasn't sure what it was exactly.

"If you need anything, Takahashi-sama," Sesshoumaru started before his mouth snapped shut at the glaring hanyou.

"We've had this talk before, _Sesshoumaru_," Inuyasha snorted. "Just Inuyasha, none of that sama crap." After a moment of thought, he added, "And no chan or kun either."

"Hai... Inuyasha-san," the demon said slowly, tasting the words for the first time.

Inuyasha sighed, shrugging as he dropped the linens onto the futon in the middle of the room. "That'll do for now, I guess. Sorry for interrupting, what were you saying?"

"If you need anything, please don't hesitate to let me know; I don't mind being woken up," the demon said, hovering about the door.

"I should be fine but thanks," the half-demon said as he shrugged off his jacket. Just as he was about to start unbuttoning his shirt he caught sight of the demon still loitering about the exit like some pervy ninja.

And despite the fact that part of him really would enjoy teasing the demon a bit further, he couldn't overlook the fact that the day was catching up with him. Inuyasha yawned as he turned his head to blink at the youkai.

"Anything else or do you usually make sure guests can undress themselves? Is that another one of those Japanese etiquette things you keep going on about?" Okay so he couldn't resist teasing the demon just a little bit...

Inuyasha snickered to himself as the demon looked as if he might pass out from embarrassment. It seemed like even Sesshoumaru was a lot more tired than he himself realized if he started staring off into space without realizing it; hell, if that'd happened to Inuyasha he'd be just as red as the demon was.

The demon bowed lowly. "I apologize, Takahashi-san. I'm more tired than I thought. If you'll excuse me, I'll be retiring to my room."

"Alright…"

With that the youkai turned and opened up the door with a stiff jerk. However, just as he was about to slip into the darkness of the corridor Inuyasha called out to him, halting him in his tracks.

"Oy, Sesshoumaru!" he whisper-hissed.

"Hai?"

"G'night," he said, yawning before he turned back to undressing.

Inuyasha never noticed the quiet "Good night, Takahashi-san" that left the demon's lips before the shoji slid shut.

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><p><em>Chapter end.<em>


End file.
